Gundam Wing Digimon Tamers Xover
by Firesinger Shadowdancer
Summary: Takato is pulled into another world after his parents reveal a secret they've kept from him since he was born. How will that world change him? eventually RxT
1. Chapter 1

Digimon Tamers X Gundam Wing

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, shape or form, own the rights to Digimon Tamers or Gundam Wing.

Author's note: I'm not sure what the ranking in the Preventers work like so I'm using American Forces Ranking (I couldn't find the Canadian ones). Rika will most probably be a little ooc since I seem to have difficulty being mean (or so I'm told. Can't play an evil RPG character to save my life -.-) Anyway, reviews are welcome even the ones that say my writing sucks. (That's probably because it does sometimes-.-'

Chapter 1

It was a nice, quiet, late August evening for the people of West Shinjuku but for one thirteen year old boy, it was going to be full of unexpected surprises.

Takato Matsuki's parents watched him anxiously for his reaction to their news. This was a secret they had been keeping from him for his whole life and they were afraid he'd get the wrong idea.

"I have an older Brother. I, Takato, have a brother."

The young former Digimon tamer looked unsure of what to think. It was extremely rare for his parents to hide secrets from him. They had a habit of treating him like a child but they had always been honest about things. To learn that he had had a sibling all this time was, expectedly, quite shocking. Takato got up from his seat at the kitchen table and looked at his parents quietly.

"Takato, what are you…?"

"I'm sorry Mom. I need to clear my head. I'm going to the park to think about it. I should be back before full dark."

The brunette patted his back pocket subconsciously to make sure that his Digimon deck was at its place and brushed the same hand across his hip to check his D-Ark. Having both necessities he left the Bakery by the back door. His feet automatically took him to his usual destination when going to the park, Guilmon's shed. Once he reached the old empty concrete hideout he sat down by the doorway, knees pulled up to his chin.

'I wonder what my brother is like now. Mom said he was a very happy kid as a toddler. Wonder if I found him now he'd come back home. He might not want to leave his new family behind.'

Takato stayed at the shelter for the better part of an hour. He was about to leave to go home when he noticed a light coming from the tunnel Guilmon had dug out a year and a half ago.

'I've got to check this out. Maybe the portal is open again.'

He climbed down the old excavated tunnel towards the end. A dim glow was the only indication that something unusual was happening. Takato put his hand before him and laughed as it disappeared with a tingle. Pulling it out, he reached for his cell to send a text message to Rika and Jenrya. Once he was done he noticed that the glow was getting brighter and starting to pulse wildly. The teen tried to back away unsuccessfully. The pulsing light took a hold of him and pulled at him, tugging him in with a strangled yelp.

Rika Nonaka ran down the street towards the park. She was rather curious at what would have caused the Goggle-head to text so late in the evening and risk her wrath. Her route met up with Jenrya Lee's, who joined her.

"Hey Brainiac, do you have any idea what Goggle-head wants?"

"No but he seemed excited about something in the message."

The two teens arrived at the shelter a half hour later, out of breath, just to find it conspicuously empty.

"Where's Takato? He said he would wait for us here."

Jenrya climbed down the tunnel, thinking that Takato would be there. All he found, to his surprise and dismay was one of his friend's shoes.

"Find anything?"

"Just one of his runners, he can't be far. Just to be safe, call Yamaki and ask him if there was anything weird lately. I'll go check the woods."

Jen climbed out of the tunnel and as he reached the mouth both D-Arks started to beep in alarm. The digital compasses blinked on to point back where Jenrya had come from. The two teens looked at each other horrified.

"What if Takato's stuck in the Digital World?"

"We'll figure something out. Let's go tell Yamaki and your Dad."

Rika pulled her cell out to phone the adults as Jen climbed out of the tunnel. This was going to be a long night.

Yamaki snapped the lid of his lighter shut and clicked it open again. The Hypnos system had detected a spike in digital activity. The spike, brief as it was, was powerful enough to worry him.

"Riley, what's the analysis on the spike?"

"The spike was located in the West Shinjuku Park, more specifically in Guilmon's old shelter. It lasted maybe five minutes then vanished. So far nothing resulted in the occurrence."

Yamaki sighed, shoving his unused lighter back in his coat pocket. He jerked, surprised as his cell phone rang. Answering it his face became rather grim.

"Riley, recheck that data! Nonaka just called, she and the Lee kid were supposed to meet Matsuki there an hour ago, they couldn't find him. They'll be here with Janyu soon."

The woman nodded from her high chair, already intent on her data.

Rika hurried to the elevator that would take her up to Yamaki, Jenrya and his dad on her heels. Both teens looked worried as they waited anxiously for the doors to open and let them out. Yamaki greeted them as soon as the three got out.

"We registered a large spike in digital energy in Guilmon's shelter an hour ago. When did you last talk with Matsuki?"

"Goggle-head sent us a message telling us to meet him there almost an hour ago. When we got there the place was empty. All we found was one of his shoes."

Yamaki's frown deepened at that. It wasn't like Takato to pull pranks and the teen was usually extremely responsible.

"Riley, scan the Digital World! See if you can find Matsuki's D-Ark."

The four on the ground waited impatiently as the woman did as asked.

"It's a no go Yamaki. I'm not picking up anything from the Digital World. I've run a scan to locate all the D-Arks and Takato-kun is the only one I can't find."

Yamaki cursed loudly as Rika tried to stop herself from showing even more of her worry. Neither of the elder men said anything as Jenrya gathered her in a hug.

"It's gonna be okay Rika. Takato can take care of himself. He'll find a way home on his own, just wait and see. He'll be okay."

Unbeknown to the group of people in Hypnos, Takato was far from being okay. He'd landed in the Digital World without too much trouble, in the same area the Tamers had arrived in on their first trip there. The problem was the large group of Viral Digimon that had found him not long after. They had chased him to an outcropping of large stones where he had tried to hide. This proved to be the wrong thing to do as a Devimon slammed him into one. Takato bit his lip, blood dripping from the small, self inflicted cut, to stop from crying out. The apparent leader of the Viral gang smirked and swept his large hand towards the Tamer, catching the teen in the side and sending him skidding 10ft away, across the rocky ground and slamming into a boulder that shattered on impact. This time Takato did cry out in pain as pieces of stone ripped through his already tattered clothes and his abused skin. His eyesight blurred with the effort of staying conscious, the last thing he could focus on was the Devimon's clawed hand reaching for his neck and everything turned black.

Takato first came awake to the sound of a heart monitor and of a respirator somewhere beside his head. He kept his eyes closed; taking in the sounds of what he hoped was a human hospital. The quiet sounds around him lulled him back to sleep without him noticing.

When he woke up again he realized that someone was sleeping by his bedside. This person was male with really long brown hair done in a braid. The man's clothing were casual work clothes in black and his feet, what he could see of them, were shod in sturdy, well worn, combat boots. Takato couldn't see his face through the bangs hiding it but the overall shape was pleasant. The man stirred and stretched fluidly like a cat waking from a nap. Takato gasped as a startling pair of violet-blue eyes opened in the young visage. The eyes widened in clear surprise when the young man realized Takato was awake.

"Hey Kid, you're awake! That's good since you've been unconscious for the past week!"

Takato struggled to push himself into a sitting position without aggravating any of the myriad of injuries he was sure he had.

"Whoa, hold on. You don't to do that yet Kid! The Doc's gonna give me Hell if you hurt yourself more. Aw shit, here let me bring the head of the bed up for ya."

"Thank you. Where am I?"

"Ah right, this is the Winner Memorial Trauma Center. You were brought here from the hospital after my friend Heero and I found you in the park. According to Doc Winner, you should be dead. Do you have any idea who did this to you?"

"I'm sorry but who are you?"

"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? Right, the name's Duo Maxwell. What about you? Do you remember yours?"

"Matsuki Takato desu, dozo yoroshiku."

Duo looked at Takato a little strangely, pretty sure that the kid had introduced himself formally in old Japanese. It wasn't that the boy could remember his name that made the Deathscythe pilot suspicious, but the fact that no one really used that way of introduction anymore. It was also pretty clear that the kid was avoiding the subject of his attacker. Well that wouldn't be his problem. As one of the people who'd found the boy he couldn't be part of the investigation. He'd leave the questioning to Wufei after the Doc had taken another look at her patient.

"Right, I'll go tell the Doc that you're up Matsuki-kun. Once she's done with you Preventer's 2nd Lieutenant Chang Wufei will ask you a few questions."

Takato watched Duo leave his room. He was sure that the young man was suspicious of him.

'I doubt that he'd believe me if I told him about Devimon or the other Digimon, especially since I've never heard of Preventers before. Something tells me I'm not in Shinjuku.'

His introspection was interrupted by the arrival of a tall female brunette in a lab coat.

"Ah, good, you're awake! I'm Doctor Iria Winner; Mr. Maxwell tells me that your name is Takato?"

"Hai, Winner-san."

Iria smiled at her patient, surprised to have such a polite teen, even while he was in extreme pain.

"I'll be checking for any damages that we might have missed while you were unconscious. Right now you have several injuries that are healing quite nicely. Your ribs, left arm, collar bone and your ankle were all broken. You have several deep lacerations to the chest and back, one shallow one on the head. Preliminary tests showed signs of severe concussion and possible head trauma due to repeated blows. It was lucky that you don't have a smashed skull. On top of all those wounds your body is just one gigantic bruise. It's a miracle you can move so soon after waking up."

"Well I've always been told that I have a hard head. What test do you need Doc?"

"I'll do some CAT scans and MRAs of your brain to make sure that everything is working okay and see if the concussion is gone, although that isn't very likely. I'll also need some more x-rays to see how well your bones are mending. The pain killers in your IV should hold you until after 2nd LT Chang is finished with you."

Takato sighed as the woman and a nurse removed the brakes from the wheels of his bed and wheeled him out of the room. The Trauma center's hallways were done in different pastel colors, most of them featuring some kind of artwork. The trip to the radiology and neurology departments was rather quick considering the time it took to carefully move Takato to and from his bed. By the time they were done with the battery of tests and back in his room, there was a young Chinese man waiting for him there.

"Takato-kun this is 2nd Lt Chang Wufei. He'll be investigating your case. You should keep the questioning short Chang-san. He's almost due for his next dose of pain killers then he'll be useless to you. Before I forget what were you slammed against Takato-kun? We had one of our lab techs test the rock samples retrieved from your back and found nothing to match it?"

Takato cringed at the thought of the boulders that had been reduced to ruble back in the Digital World. Dr Winner and the man in the tan uniform looked at him expectantly, waiting for an answer. When he didn't say anything the Lieutenant's frown deepened and Doctor Winner sighed and left. For his part the lieutenant hunkered down to ask questions he had a feeling would go largely unanswered.

Chang Wufei all but exploded into the waiting room where four young men were waiting for him, one of which was Duo Maxwell.

"What got up your ass and died Wu?"

"That child is as annoying to question then you are Maxwell! He either refused to answer or told me the truth with the most excruciating vagueness he could. He knows who did this to him but he refuses to say a word on the subject. What information I got out of him is barely enough to be considered the need to know."

"So what is it?"

"Like he told you, he's Matsuki Takato, 13 years old. As far as he can truthfully say, he has no idea where his parents are. For all he knows he is alone in the world."

The contemplative silence that followed was interrupted by the arrival of Iria Winner who knocked gently on the waiting room door frame.

"Sorry to interrupt gentlemen but I have some test results you might like to know about."

"What do you mean Doc? Is something wrong with the Kid?"

"Frankly speaking, that child should have died from all of his injuries. How he survived is a mystery to us. During the surgery we performed when you brought him in we found several strange substances either lodged into or covering the wounds. I've had the lab attempt and I do mean _**attempt**_to analyze them."

"Wait, didn't you send samples to Forensics?"

"Yes we did. That's not the problem. Both labs concluded the same thing for the liquid like substances found coating the wounds. Had we not removed it, as a matter of course, the boy would have died of poisoning and or toxic shock. We're not sure how the toxins would have affected the body but we do know that the result would have been fatal eventually. As for the rock samples we sent to Forensics they discovered that it didn't have any of the bio-samples or elemental make-up found in such things. From all the possible combinations of rock compositions found in both Space and on Earth, this sample doesn't match anything we've ever found."

"Come to think of it, the Kid cringed when you asked him what he'd been slammed against earlier. It's rather obvious that he knows even if he chose not to answer. By the looks of it he's either afraid that we won't believe him, or he's trying to protect the one who did this to him."

"I'm leaning more towards the not believing him part. Did you find anything else Doc?"

"As a matter of fact, yes we did Mr. Maxwell. We've run some DNA tests, figuring it was going to be the only way to find his family. It took us a few days but we did find him one relative. The odd thing about it is that the two of them are the only ones in all of the Earth Sphere and Colonies to have this particular genetic make-up."

"So have you been able to reach that person?"

Iria looked up from her clip board and leveled a measuring stare at Duo. The brunette kept looking at her expectantly, wondering why she had gone quiet so suddenly. The other young men were getting a little anxious too.

"I don't have to; I'm looking right at him."

Duo jerked in surprise, his breath catching in his throat. There was no way that the Matsuki Kid could be related to him! What were the chances of that happening in a million years? Even then he had to admit though; there was something familiar about the boy that he couldn't quite place.

"How are we related?"

"According to the tests, he's your little brother. Who your parents are though is unknown. Everybody is entered in the DNA registries as soon as they are born. But the both of you are different. From the records that the Registry has on you, Duo, you weren't added until you were 2years old and that was done by an orphanage. Takato isn't even registered yet. That's nigh on impossible even had you both been born at home. Also you have no recorded ancestry matching your genetics anywhere from the last hundred years."

Duo slumped against the back of the hard plastic chair he was sitting in. He wasn't sure what his reaction ought to be. On one hand he was deliriously happy to have a brother. On the other he was understandably confused. It wasn't everyday that someone told you that a sibling that for all intents and purposes shouldn't exist just appeared out of nowhere. The former Gundam pilot knew the DNA laws just as well as the next person. Every human being had to have their offspring entered in the DNA Registry the minute they were born. That law existed for various reasons and had never been disputed by Earth or Colony. It enabled people to find relatives with some ease and the law to find criminals far easier than in the past. To learn that his own registration had come late was a shock in itself. That Takato was still not registered at 13, made him wonder just what the Hell their parents were thinking and how they'd manage to avoid it for so long. And again supposedly his own parents didn't exist in the registry either. That was impossible in its own right. Duo's look of dumbfounded surprise changed into one of determination.

"I'll have to tell him the news myself then. We don't know if he's ever been told about a possible sibling. Doc if you could make sure that all of his paperwork gets given to me; I'll be taking custody of him if he agrees, when you release him."

"Are you sure Duo? Taking care of a child can be pretty difficult by itself. Add injuries as severe as his and you get even more problems."

"I'm sure Doc. He's my little brother; my only living relative. Besides, I'd rather not have someone sent to an orphanage or foster home. I'll have to get a bigger apartment and do adjustments to my schedule but I'll live."

"Say Duo, why don't you move into my mansion here on Earth? That will save you from having to hunt for apartments and will give you extra hands to care for Takato-kun. I've been thinking of asking all of you to do so for a while now."

It didn't take much for Duo to agree to the arrangement. He liked living with the smaller man and the Maguanacs. It would be a bummer for Hilde who was loosing a business partner but he realized that his brother may never have traveled to space before and that wasn't a good idea with his injuries. Also the other Pilots would be there to help with any problems may arise with the boy. Wufei would also be able to keep an eye for any abnormal behavior that would give him clues for his case. Another plus was that the Chinese warrior would be able to teach the teen self-defense; not that Duo wouldn't be able to do that himself but he'd rather Takato not have anything to do with the dirty street tricks he knew. The idea made it possible to protect the boy better. They still had no clue as to who would want to hurt him this bad. They needed to stay vigilant.

Translations:

San: most used suffix to denote respect towards a stranger or older person

Hai: yes

Matsuki Takato desu, dozo yoroshiku: I'm Takato Matsuki, pleased to meet you.

AN: I'm not sure when the second chapter will be out, it should be sometime soon though. I'm looking for beta readers for this story so if you're interested let me know.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Takato was picking at a tray of food when Duo and another man he hadn't met yet entered his room. This man was maybe half an inch shorter than Duo, had darker short brown hair and sharp dark blue eyes. He was also dressed casually in blue jeans, tank top and old sneakers.

"Did you need anything Duo-san?"

Duo suddenly looked hesitant and he fussed at the end of his braid in a nervous habit. The man behind him gave him a silent nudge then left the room to stand in the hall.

"Um, Takato, we were wondering if your parents ever told you about any relatives you might have had before you were separated."

"Y-es they did. Apparently I have an older brother somewhere. He disappeared before I was born. Why?"

"The Doc did some DNA test to find your family and they found one person."

"I actually have a relative here? Who? Will they come see me?"

The excited look on Takato's face as he questioned Duo on his possible relative made him feel like maybe the boy would be happy to live with him. He smiled as Takato's rambling questions slowed when the boy realized he hadn't let his guest answer any of them.

"Ah, I'm sorry Duo-san. I got a little too excited there. Will that person come for me?"

"I'm already here Takato. Imagine my surprise when the Doc told me I had a little brother. Especially considering the way I found you. Do you think you'd be okay living with me and my friends?"

Duo almost panicked as tears started to fall from the boy's eyes. Takato pushed himself forward with his good arm and let gravity do the rest as his shoulder came to rest against Duo's chest. The tears came down faster as his body shook from the emotional surge that had finally taken hold of him. Frankly this was too much for the former Tamer. First he was kidnapped by the Digital World, assaulted by Viral Digimon and spit out in a world that wasn't his home. Not knowing if he could ever go home had been painful, but the happiness at finding his lost brother was the last drop to overflow everything. The older teen wrapped his arms gently around the younger and let the child cry to his hearts content.

"It'll be okay Takato. I'm here for you."

"Don't ever leave me Nii-san. I don't think I'd survive losing you too."

"I can't really promise that I won't die Takato. My job is very dangerous. But I can promise you this; no matter where I am or what I'm doing, I'll always be beside you."

Takato sobbed and buried his face in his older brother's shoulder, letting the rope of hair resting there catch his tears. He felt Duo tighten his arms around him gently.

---

Takato stared at the building in front of him in awe. He knew, intellectually, that Quatre was one of the richest people in the Earth Sphere, but the size of this 'small mansion' was closer to that of a medium sized palace. He could understand the need for a large home considering the number of siblings the blond had told him he had but this was way over over-kill. Especially considering that none of the Winner sisters were ever in the same place all at once. Also on that note there was another, far smaller, Winner residence in the city, not counting the political residence in the Peacecraft Palace itself. If this was the size of the secondary main residence of the Family on Earth, he'd hate to imagine the size of the true Main Residence Duo had told him was located in the deserts of Arabia.

"Hey Takato, are you going to stay there all day? The building isn't gonna up and leave if you stop staring at it."

Takato turned his stare to his brother who stood in front of the doors to his new home. The heavier of his two pieces of luggage sat at his feet, waiting to be picked up by the young man. Takato himself only had a small day bag, half full of the art supplies he'd requested during his month long stay at the hospital. Whatever other junk he'd accumulated during that time had either been disposed of, or stuffed in with the clothing his brother had bought for him. At the thought of the clothes, the young teen had to be thankful that his older brother had either a sense of fashion or one of his friends had one. It was all for a teen that would be physically active without looking like what the exercise nuts tended to wear. It also tended towards the multifunctional. Several of the pieces could be upgraded into semiformal wear with the simple addition of a few choice accessories. And by the look of this place he thought that he would need to dress up a bit.

"Takato! Are you coming or what?"

"Yes, keep your pants on, sheesh. What's your hurry?"

"The Doc said you'd have to rest once you were here. And believe me, she'll find out one way or another if you went against orders."

Takato had to agree with his brother on that one. While the eldest Winner sibling was an extremely likable person on a normal basis she was not to be disobeyed when it came to patient welfare. If a patient had the misfortune to go against her edict she became like one of the mythological Furies. He'd never had the unfortunate luck to disobey her but one of the patients on his floor had. Takato shivered at the thought and hurried up the stairs where his brother and Quatre were waiting for him.

"You just had to remind me didn't you Nii-san?"

"I had to get your butt in gear somehow. Come on we'll show you to your rooms."

"Welcome home Takato. I hope you will enjoy living here. Your rooms are in the second floor West Wing."

"Thank you for letting us stay here Quatre-san."

The blond Pilot smiled warmly at the Tamer and led the two brunettes up a grand staircase that split half way to the left and right. They took the left side up and turned right at the top. Here anything seeable from the Grand Entry was decorated in luxurious detail, designed more to awe and intimidate than to comfort. Farther down the hall the décor became much warmer and less ostentatious. It still screamed filthy rich but now it had more of a homey feel to it. The antique furniture, while possibly priceless, looked used and abused in places. Porcelain nick-knacks and vases looked to be recent additions to the small tables set against the walls between small cushioned benches. Above the furniture and on every bit of available wall not claiming a window was a piece of painted or engraved art. Most pieces were European in nature but doted in among them were pieces of Asian influence. These were usually paired with furniture that complimented the piece well, contrary to the predominantly European style of the mansion. If Takato had to guess it was probably because of Heero and Wufei's presence in the place. Neither boy cared much for aesthetics but Quatre liked to make all of his guests, at least subconsciously, comfortable. The three passed one painting that caught Takato's attention more than any of the others. It was a nice piece; of a renaissance lady with unbound scarlet hair accepting a gift from a knight kneeling at her feet. Half hidden by the lady's dress was a golden fox, watching the knight with amused benevolence. The knight himself was dressed in red and white armor that seemed to remind Takato of Gallantmon's, going as far as having dragon like ears on the helmet.

"You like this painting Takato?"

The teen jumped, not realizing that the two older boys had had to retrace their steps when he'd stopped to examine the artwork.

"Yes, the armor of the knight looks kind of familiar."

"I could have it moved to your rooms if you want."

"I wouldn't want to trouble you Quatre-san."

"It won't be trouble Takato. It's due to be taken down and cleaned. I'll have the servant in charge put it in your room when they're done with it."

"Well then, I'd like that very much, thank you."

The three continued down the hall and stopped at a white painted door that bore Takato's name on a plaque. On the plaque, beside his name, was a permanent marker doodle of his head giving a peace sign. He grinned at Duo, sure that the braided man was responsible for the doodle. Quatre opened the door and ushered the two brothers in. While Duo had already seen the suite of rooms the blond had assigned Takato, the teen was surprised. The door from the hallway opened to a sitting room. This room was decorated in light colors due to the lack of windows. Near one corner stood an entertainment unit holding several kinds of game consoles, video player and a stereo. Mounted in the corner was the flat screen TV that was faced with comfy couches and cushions. On the other side of the room was a low table with flat cushions to sit on, bookshelves full of board games and card games. There were several photos that Takato discovered were of his brother and his friends on the flat surfaces.

The next room he looked into was through the door located on the right side of the sitting room. This proved to be the bathroom. It was done in an ocean theme with a bath Takato thought he'd be able to swim in. The shower was separate from the bath. The door directly ahead of the hall proved to be a combination library/sunroom. One half was covered in books and had a western style desk in the middle, facing the sunroom windows. The sunroom proper was full of plants of all kinds, a telescope stationed at one of the windows near the balcony doors. Looking out the doors revealed several outdoor chairs, small tables and more plants. These outdoor plants linked the sunroom and balcony with the rather impressive gardens that could be seen all around the house. Takato turned back to the sitting room, excited to find out what his bedroom looked like. The door on the left was a Japanese shoji door which he slid open slowly. It revealed a red room with dark furniture and another shoji door that he guessed was the closet. The western style bed was king size and when flopped onto, extremely comfy. On one of the bedside tables, beside the lamp were several photo frames of Duo and Takato together during his stay at the hospital.

"We'll change those once we have better pictures of us."

"Do you like your rooms Takato?"

"Of course Quatre-san! You could fit my old residence in here. The sunroom will be perfect for drawing in and I love the balcony. I can't wait to read the books in the library."

Duo laughed as the younger teen turned around and sped out of his room into the sitting room. Takato plopped himself down on one of the cushions on the floor and looked imploringly at his brother.

"Help me figure out these games Nii-san?"

"Sure, hey Quat let us know when dinner is, please?"

"I'll send someone to tell you. Have fun you two."

Quatre watched quietly for a few seconds as Duo explained the game consoles to his little brother before leaving. He had paperwork to do.

---

Living with the boys took some getting used to but Takato loved every minute of it. To their collective surprise he spent most of his time in the library while not in their company. He was busy reading the history of the world he found himself in, using the mix of old and recent history books he managed to unearth. In this way he realized that indeed he wasn't anywhere near home. The D-Reaper Incident in Shinjuku and the rest of the planet was a well known occurrence yet none of the books going back as far as the AD calendar system had any mention of this. So the theory that he had somehow time traveled was out of the question. You could change the future by going to the past but couldn't change the past with the future. During his time with the boys they tested him on his level of schooling. They discovered that he was horribly behind on most everything children his age should know nowadays. To make this up they decided that they would tutor Takato in the lessons until he'd caught up with his peers before sending him to an actual school. On top of the academic lessons he had to endure Martial arts lessons from Wufei. Granted the Chinese man was holding back in favor of the recent injuries that for some were still healing.

Wufei sighed, exasperated as Takato tripped over his own two feet for the umpteenth time in the last ten minutes. The boy had an unconscious grace and agility that mirrored his brother's but only if he wasn't focusing on said grace. In learning the art, he tripped and fell with alarming frequency. In actual combat, he moved as expertly, considering his current level, as if he'd seen battle before. That was also one of the many mysteries that the boys were uncovering about the teen. During an early lesson, Takato had found a lance in the dojo and proceeded to practice with it, a look of familiarity in his eyes. When asked about it he refused to say where he'd learn it. A grunt of pain pulled the older teen from his introspection to find the younger awkwardly sprawled on the floor.

"Let's stop here for today Takato. I'm sure that Barton is waiting for you in the main library already."

Takato grinned ruefully up at his Sensei from his position of the floor. Really he knew that he was unusually clumsy today. Wufei helped him to his feet and pushed him out the door to get changed. After changing his gi for normal clothing he headed for the huge library in the mansion. He wasn't surprised to find his math and science tutor already there, waiting for him at a table. Trowa waited patiently for Takato to take out his homework, the eldest of the boys quirked an eyebrow at him and then at his watch.

"Wufei let me go early. I can't seem to stay on my feet long enough to make progress today. I think it was to save both our sanities."

"Did you finish the work I set you?"

"Most of it, there were some of the questions I didn't get."

Another eyebrow was quirked in question.

"I tried them, I just didn't get them."

Trowa pulled the notebook to him as soon as Takato deposited it on the table. True to his word Takato had done most of the questions correctly. Four of the fifteen had been started and abandoned. Sighing quietly he tried to again show Takato how to do the questions.

---

Takato wandered the hall of the mansion aimlessly. Everyone but Heero was gone away on business. Duo and Wufei were on missions for the Preventers while Quatre had asked Trowa to come with him to a business meeting on L3. While his erstwhile tutors had left him with a bigger workload than usual, it had been breezed through in the first day of their leaving. The only work left undone was the work set by Heero in computer sciences.

'No but really, does he expect me to become a computer hacker or something? I already have enough trouble with regular computer sciences. Hello, what's this?'

The teen's mindless wandering had brought him to a part of the mansion that he'd never set foot in. The hall was plain and utilitarian in décor. The doors in the walls were plain grey metal and at a try, locked. One particular doorway was open, the room beyond which was nearly empty but for a computer desk and a line of some kind of arcade booths. Curiosity getting the better of him, he took a look at the computer which was displaying a bunch of names and stats. To his surprise the boys' names were top most for most of the stats. In some rare cases the names of Maguanacs were in the top seven. Otherwise the gap between the skills of the boys and the Maguanac Corps was rather large. Wondering why Quatre would have that kind of game squirreled away this far back in the mansion he moved to one of the booths and strapped himself in. As soon as he'd finished doing that the screen of the game turned on and a robotic voice started.

*User Name:___________*

'Let's see, TAKATO'

*New User, Create Password*

'Guilmon'

*Choose Mobile Suit Type*

At this Takato froze. He had only a bare knowledge of the giant war machines from his history books. Having to choose between the normal types and the Gundams was a little daunting with so little information. In the end he went with…

'Gundam Deathscythe'

*Acknowledged, Level of Difficulty?*

'Novice'

The computer in the game processed the information and created a file in the computer across the room. Once it was done the lights in the booth dimed and a star-space appeared on the screen.

*Pilot Objective: Destroy All Enemy MS*

Takato grinned in nervous excitement and a small group of five MS appeared on his screen. He let his instincts take over as the enemy noticed him and rushed at him. The battle lasted maybe four minutes in which Takato was chagrined to find himself destroyed at the same time as the last enemy.

*Time: 3minutes 38seconds

Accuracy: 85%

Damage: 57%

Do You Wish To Continue?*

'Yes'

Takato then spent the next two hours steadily increasing his skills at this new 'game' while unknown to him, an alarm was going off in another part of the mansion.

---

Heero opened his laptop to see what unauthorized person was using the MS simulators. It came as some surprise that it was Takato methodically destroying enemy mobile suits. The stats kept going up with every new 'mission' attempted by the teen. By the end of the second hour on the simulator, his stats were close to equal with the higher level Maguanacs. The attacks were messy and more of a bumbling accident than calculated strategy but it apparently worked for the younger teen. Making up his mind, Heero closed his laptop and headed for the simulation room at a jog. By the time he got there Takato was busily trying to get out of the pilot's seat. His feet caught the strapping and the teen was sent sprawling to the floor.

"Are you ok?"

Takato looked up at his brother's best friend sheepishly, embarrassed to have been caught in another moment of klutziness.

"I'm fine. Say, Heero, what's with this room?"

Heero looked at the boy seated on the floor, a calculating look in his eyes. Duo had asked that they don't tell Takato about the war just yet, afraid to scare the child away. He was planning on informing his brother soon but a nervous fear of rejection kept him from actually doing it. Now it looked like it was inevitable on the Perfect Soldier's part. It would be too hard to explain away the battle simulators with lies. Besides the boy deserved to know the truth from someone he trusted.

"This room is used to keep us five and the Maguanac Corps in shape should we ever require the use of mobile suits in the future."

"But haven't the MS been destroyed after the Mariemaya Incident? Why would you need these?"

"How much do you know about the Gundams?"

"Just what is in the books and that's not very much."

"What do you think of what they've done?"

Takato glanced at Heero questioningly as he stood, not sure why that was relevant, before reflecting on the events written down in his books.

"At the beginning they were fighting for the Colonies to free them from the Earth Alliance's oppression. I can't say I approve of the method but from what I've read they didn't have much of a choice. Even while fighting they could have done some things differently but that's only my opinion. By the end of the first war they were trying to save as many people as possible and they never tried to get compensation for the things people did to them, so I guess they're alright in my book. Why, does this have to do with the fact that you have Gundams in your list of MS?"

"Yes. Duo wasn't sure how to tell you this Takato but the five of us are the Gundam Pilots; in fact he was the Pilot of Deathscythe. He's been deathly afraid that you would hate him when you learned about it."

The dumbstruck look of horror on the other teen's face worried Heero until he found himself with an armful of crying Tamer.

"Takato?"

"I'm sorry Heero-san. It's just that the thought of you five being forced to fight an adults war at fifteen, its mind boggling."

Heero smiled faintly at the smaller teen hugging his ribs to death, somehow surprised to feel relief that Takato didn't see them as bad people.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Takato stood nervously outside his new classroom door, tugging at the black ribbon that was part of his new uniform. Quatre had insisted on enrolling him at the prestigious St-Gabriel's Academy after the Vice Foreign Minister had visited the boys while they were trying to decide which school he should attend. His opinion of Miss Dorlain was that she was nice… if taken in small, widely spaced, doses. The same could be said of Miss Catalonia if only you could ignore her creepy eyebrows. He was pulled from his thoughts by the door opening and the Sister calling him in. Takato took in his first sight of the class room and groaned. The seats were amphitheatre style desks in a semi-circle. All of the girls were sitting primly in their seats, backs straight and noses in the air as his eyes glanced them over. For the most part the boys were just as stiff backed and arrogant as the girls. The male students sneered in dislike at him except for two on the top most tiers of the desks.

"Class, I want you to welcome a new student to our Academy. Please introduce yourself Child."

"Ohayo gozaimasu! My name is Takato Matsuki; it's a pleasure meeting all of you."

The girls snickered at his upbeat introduction and whispered to their seat mate in a fashion that he didn't think he'd like. The boys didn't do anything but he had a feeling that they might be planning something for later.

"Please take your seat next to Mr. Wagner. He's the one with blonde hair and glasses in the top tier."

Takato sighed and started to climb the steps towards the top. On the way he managed to avoid another student's mysteriously stray foot that was innocently placed to trip him up. The student in question looked quietly frustrated that his plan had been foiled but laughed out loud when Takato tripped by himself a bit higher up. Takato ignored the twittering brats in favor for the blond the Sister had pointed out for him. The teen's hair was short, just long enough to start a gentle wave in it. His eyes, behind the rimless glasses, were a cool ice blue that despite their color were full of warmth. The boy was unnaturally tall for his age, leaving him the tallest boy in the room and the most likely to be ostracized. Takato took his seat and gave his hand to the boy on his left, who took it with surprising gentleness.

"Welcome to St-Gabriel's Matsuki. I'm Stefan Wagner; the guy to your right is my best friend Hikaru Mizuno."

Takato turned to study the other teen that was grinning at him and not paying attention to the lecture going on, on the Sister's platform. This boy was clearly Asian as his name stated. Where Stefan was tall and fair, Hikaru was short and dark. His wild midnight black hair was shinning dark blue in the natural light coming through the windows and his almond shaped eyes were a brown so dark that it appeared to be black. His skin was naturally tanned as if he'd spend hours on end outside in the sun.

"Yeah, welcome to the snobbiest school in the Earth Sphere. Glad to see that you aren't anything like the others in this class."

He had to agree that was the truth. Out of all the other students the only one that didn't look like a total snob was a shy, mousy haired, bespectacled girl sitting as far away from the others as possible. Takato shrugged and turned his attention to the Sister as he opened his book at the page indicated on the overhead projector.

Classes, Takato found were somewhat easy after having to suffer through the curriculum set by his brother and their housemates. Even with the little bit he'd been able to absorb of Heero's computer lessons; it had him outstripping his so called peers. Thanks to Quatre, in political debate class he'd found himself reducing the captains of both teams to tears, confusing not only the students but the teacher as well. Natural sciences earned him glares from the classmates that had been in the other two lessons and the unnoticed favor of the Sister teaching it. In languages he realized that he had both Jenrya and Wufei to thank for the basics in Chinese Cantonese. In the other hand that didn't earn him any brownie points with the sourly man the Academy had hired to teach said basics to the students. He'd found himself making an enemy of the Teacher, innocently pointing out some minor pronunciation errors the man had made. Math had him and the other students bored to tears, the Teacher's monotone so not suited to teaching dry numbers to begin with. The chemistry lab proved to have a temptation that Takato was surprises to want to try. The Teacher was a self-absorbed genius with no tolerance for children. He'd put the lesson on the board, commanded them to write down the directions and left them to it. Unfortunately for the man, Duo's chemistry lessons had innocently enough, included how to make explosives. Thankfully for the school, Takato was a responsible child… unlike the two idiots who nearly destroyed the lab mixing random chemicals together. The end damage of that particular experiment merely caused the class to be dismissed a half hour early and a slight scratchy cough in all the students due to a timely disruption on Takato's part. After chemistry was luncheon and Takato was dragged off by Hikaru to the table he and Stefan usually sat at. The two boys grilled their new friend about events in the classes they didn't share and laughed quietly at the lab incident. Following lunch was Literature and Phys. Ed. The last class was the only part that caused Takato any embarrassment. The boy was fit thanks to training with Wufei and the rest of the boys, that wasn't the problem. What was was his inexplicable klutziness… and floor hockey had never been his favorite sport to begin with. The gym Teacher had him benched before the match was half way through. In the change room he had to endure the derisive snickers and attempted trip-ups of his male classmates. So when Duo showed to pick him up at the end of the day, he wasn't in the best of moods.

Two months went by before Takato allowed himself to invite his new friends over to the 'Palace' like he called it. The three boys were project partners in World Geography and Takato figured that Quatre's main library probably would have the books they would need if his own didn't already. Also, the look of pure shock on the boys' faces was worth the never mentioning where he lived.

"This is where you live! Dude, I was expecting like a moderately expensive house, not a huge Palace! What do your parents do for a living?"

"I don't live with my parents. Nii-san and I live with four friends of his. I'm sure you've heard of one of them. He's kind' a hard to miss."  
"Who, who could afford this?"

Takato smiled at Hikaru and watched Stefan shake his head and the shorter teen's exuberance.

"Well, if you'll come in you'll get to meet him if he's home."

He went in, the other two on his heels only to find all five of the Pilots in the front foyer, dressed in Preventers' uniform and knapsacks at hand.

"Where are you guys going dressed like that?"

"We were called in for a mission; we'll be gone for a few days."

Now Takato was no stranger to seeing any one of them off for any number of business or Preventers related things. What was unusual was **all five** of them leaving at the same time and wearing their uniforms. The former Tamer knew that his brother hated wearing it with a passion. So for the braided Pilot to be in it without a fuss, it must be a very important mission.

"Please be careful Nii-san, all of you."

"We will Takato. We'll be back before you know it."

The five men trouped pass Takato and his stunned friends, Duo pausing long enough to shut Hikaru's mouth with a chuckle. The minute the door closed securely behind the group the two teens turned awed stares at Takato,

"You live with _THE_ Quatre Winner?! Your brother is a Preventer? How cool is that! You're the luckiest guy on the flippin' planet."

"It's no big deal Hikaru. There are plenty of people who are or are related to Preventers. As for living with Quatre-san, well that really thanks to my brother."

"No big deal? No big deal!? Takato, he's the richest guy on the Earth Sphere; he's one of the youngest most influential Politicians alive! You could put all those smart asses at school in their places just by casually mentioning that you live in his house. Never mind that you're actually _friends_ with the guy! Connections are the best currency at the Academy and you're the best connected out of all of us. How in Hell are you so down to earth?"

"It's rather easy Hikaru. Up until a few months ago I had **no idea** he even existed. I didn't even know about my own brother. Before I lost my parents we were in the middle class. The only person that I met in the upper class was my friend Rika and I have no idea if she's still alive. I've never cared for getting rich or being better than I was then. I had my parents and my friends and I was happy. Now I have my brother and I still have friends. If you took away all of Quatre's money and influence, I'd still be happy. Frankly that's all I want or need. So are you guys ready to hit the books?"

"What, no way, I want to go exploring! This place's huge. We can work on the project later. Hey think the teacher will let us do our project on this place; it's big enough to count as a County."

The other two boys sighed in exasperation and Takato mimed for Stefan to help him frog march the shorter teen to his room, they had a project to start working on.

Duo grumbled to himself quietly. It was a simple information recon mission, that's all it was, really. Go in, get the information and get out, easy. Yet Murphy's Law had decided to use him as its victim for the day. Everything that could go wrong would and did; with a vengeance. The minute he stepped foot inside the filthy base this round of Terrorist used, it had started. The plans of the base he'd carefully memorized before didn't match anything in reality. The security system itself was so outdated that it should have been easy to dispatch, emphasis on _should have._ Already committed to finish the mission, he couldn't turn back until he got the disks he'd been sent in for. When he'd finally reached a computer connected to the network, the thing was so ancient that it took him a few minutes to actually figure the bloody thing out. A few minutes that he really didn't have time to waste. By the time he finally got what he came for, the computer room was surrounded by the Terrorists and he had a Hell of a time getting out with all limbs attached. And then, to make matters worse, the streets themselves were teeming with them like bloody cockroaches. They were everywhere, included between him and his shuttle out of here. Hiding himself behind a dumpster he spotted a mailbox around the corner. He rummaged quietly through his bag of tricks, all the while praying for Murphy to look the other way for a few minutes and came out with an envelope and one of Quatre's electronic postage gimmicks. Estimating the weight of the small disks he'd used, he sealed them up in the envelope and tagged it with more than enough postage. Dashing to the mailbox he dropped the disks in and scurried away, hoping no one had seen what he'd done. Finding another dumpster to hide behind he crouched down to watch the cockroaches run about until an all too familiar noise made him freeze. The cocking of the gun had been right behind him and in symphony with others of its kind. The brunette had no doubt that they were all pointed at his head. He raised his hands above his head slowly and turned around to face the men who'd found him. He sincerely hoped that the guys would get the disks and the hint or Murphy was in for one serious ass kicking when Duo croaked.

Takato frowned as he watched Heero pack his work bag. They had had no news from Duo for two days already and the only two at home were getting more than worried.

"What do you think happened?"

"They must have caught him off guard somehow. If he could have escaped them he would have done it by now."

"You can't go alone; I'm going with you."

Heero abruptly stopped packing and turned to stare at his best friend's little brother. He was perfectly aware that Lady Une would demand that he take back-up with him to extract Duo. The problem with that was that, however competent the other Preventer Agents were, they could never keep up with him. Only the other Pilots could and the other three were either already on missions or bogged down in political stupidity (poor Quatre). So Takato's demand to come along was somewhat valid. Heero had decided that the boy could be useful as a back-up when he was older and had started his training accordingly. MS and shuttle pilot training in the simulator twice a week. Intensified martial arts and adding gymnastics with Wufei and Trowa. The supposedly innocent chemistry lessons with his brother and a myriad of other less than savory lessons hidden in the rest of the curriculum. Heero was positive that it had not escaped the boy's notice. Takato was a sharp observer; he only appeared to be clueless most of the time.

"No, you will remain here. You are still too young. I will go alone. "

"Still too young? Heero, you guys were only two years older than I am when you went to _war_. I think that I can handle a rescue mission. I don't intend on going in the base with guns blazing. That would be stupid of me but you need someone to watch your six and the shuttle. I'm going wither you like it or not. Besides this is what you've been training me for."

Heero couldn't deny that logic. Even if the boy was right it didn't make the final decision any easier. Duo would kill him if anything happened to his Baby Brother. Heaving a sigh Heero took one of his hand guns and shoved it into Takato's hands. The former Tamer stared at it stupidly then blinked as Heero showed him the safety and how to change the clip.

"Heero?"

"You'll need a weapon to defend yourself with if anyone attacks the shuttle while I'm gone. Just don't shoot yourself with it, please."

Takato smiled at Heero and put the gun on safety and changed the clip to show the older teen that he'd been paying attention to the impromptu weapon's lesson. Finished with that he ran out of the room to pack before Heero could change his mind about bringing him along.

Takato could not help but stare at the hollow cavern that was the Preventers HQ main shuttle hangar. The giant machine that would take him up into Space for the first time was stored in the underground bunker along with what looked like giant humanoid robots. Heero had assured him that the giant sentinels were quite un-functional and would take a bit of time to retrofit into service again. He was somewhat disappointed to hear that, having never seen the MS in action before. But considering that all the men and women here were working hard to make sure that they were never needed again, he'd keep that disappointment to himself. The two approached their vehicle to find a tall, black haired woman waiting for them at its foot. Heero saluted, jerked his head in Takato's direction then proceeded to board the vessel.

"Heero, you can't be serious; he's a child!"

"He's Duo's brother, we've started trained him personally. If he can't perform under pressure then there is no need to continue on with it. He's made up his mind and I will not be the one to stop him."

"Lady Une will not be happy about this."

"When is she ever Noin? He'll be fine."

Ms Noin looked at the boy again and was struck with the look of pure determination that lurked in the red-brown depths of his soul. She sighed, somehow unable to deny the child the chance to save his older brother. There was also something dark besides the determination in his eyes that unnerved her. Something that, push comes to shove, she did not want to make the boy angry. Her sigh turned into a shiver as he continued to stare at her, waiting for her word.

"He better come back in one piece and he better visit Sally after the mission, injured or not. You hear me Heero?"

"Ninmou ryoukai."

Takato bowed politely to the woman as he passed her on his way to the shuttle, a small smug smirk reminiscent of Duo's stretching his lips.

Heero piloted the shuttle into the bay they were directed to by port control. It was an out of the way area, closest to the rebel base they knew held Duo.

"You know what you have to do, right?"

"For the hundredth time, yes! I stay here and guard the shuttle. If anything follows you and Duo back here, I provide back up fire until you guys are safe inside and you get us out of here. If you don't come back within the set amount of time I have to call the Preventers HQ and tell them to send the other pilots then lay low."

"Right, give me two hours. I'll have your brother back here by then."

"Good Luck Sir."

Heero looked at him a bit funny at the sir bit but ignored it as he checked to make sure that he had everything he would need. His check complete he left the shuttle and broke into a fast walk towards the base. It took him fifteen minutes to get there, giving him twenty to free Duo and twenty-five to run back in case the other was injured. The perimeter of the base didn't seem to have such important things as a guard so Heero just walked in, anxious to get his friend. Once he was inside he realized why there were no guards. The place was a maze of unmarked hallways in the same bland color tone. Anyone coming in here unescorted would quickly loose their way. The floor plan he'd memorized was useless but that didn't stop him. He located a set of stairs going down and crept down positive that was where he'd find Duo. Sure enough the basement floor housed the cells for prisoners. They were cage like structures guarded by a handful of men, none of which seemed to be very alert. They were all knocked unconscious in a minute and the only cage in use was located near the back.

Duo looked up wearily at the sound of footsteps coming his way. The last time he'd gotten a visit from his captors they'd left him bruised and bloody but thankfully without broken bones. His relief at seeing Heero come his way was clearly visible on his face.

"Yo Heero, it's good to see you. Who else is here?"

"One more but not a Pilot."

"Did you guys get the disks in the mail?"

"That was you?"

"Yeah, I sent them just before I got caught. Can we go now? I'm sick of this place and I'm starving!"

Heero snorted as he unlocked the door and opened it, following Duo to the stairs quickly. He was surprised not to find any resistance going up from any rebels in the place. Duo explained that the idiots were mostly here as a distraction and were poorly paid, undisciplined mercenaries. They probably could care less if their captive was getting away. Besides their security system was reminiscent of the AD era and practically worthless. The _**why**_ they were a distraction hadn't been explained in the disks but it seemed that this mercenary troop wasn't the only one on the master payroll. The two boys had just reached the exit when a man shouted for them to stop. They bolted, gathering a following of rebels as they went. Their pursuers fired their weapons at them, ignoring the now panicking civilians in the way.

The shuttle came into view, its airlock door firmly closed. Heero hoped that Takato was paying attention because Duo wasn't armed and keeping the bad guys away was going to be hard with only one gun. His doubts were unjustified as the main weapons on the shuttle started to fire and the airlock slowly opened. The shots went wide, hitting the surrounding area instead of the targets but the closer the two Pilots got to the ship so did the shots become more accurate. The rebels scattered after the first shot but kept following. Heero reached the vehicle first, throwing himself in and rushing for the co-pilot seat. Duo was only a second behind him, stalling at the gunner's seat a few seconds when he saw who was shooting their weaponry. Shacking himself he dropped into the pilot's seat and started the engines. The ship rocked slightly as something hit the hull and Takato cursed under his breath. The video feed of the outside showed a newly arrived rebel holding what looked like a Bazooka. Acting on instinct, Takato shot at the man, the ammunition and spares exploding killing him and several of his comrades beside him. The Tamer let go of his controls as if he was burned, unable to breath as the realization of what he'd just done hit him. The simulations hadn't prepared him for the first kill. Intellectually he knew that the Mobile Suits had to be piloted by humans but in the simulator it was just that; a simulation. And here Takato had killed more than one person in one fell swoop. His shocked state didn't go unnoticed by the other two. Heero had been hoping that this wouldn't happen on the kid's first mission but at least now it was out of the way. Duo was worried for his little brother. Shock wasn't a good thing to go into and Takato was definitely having a tough time of it. The minute the shuttle was in space he gave control to Heero and went to comfort his distraught sibling.

"Takato?"

"I killed; people are dead because of me."

"It was them or us. They knew what they were getting into when they accepted that job."

"Does it ever get easier Nii-san?"

"It's when it does that you have to worry about wither you're a soldier or a murderer. It'll always hurt but it'll fade with time. There's still time to pull out if you don't want to keep doing this."

Takato turned to face Duo, his eyes un-glazing from the shock. There was a determination there that he'd noticed before but it was stronger now, more focused on moving forward.

"No, I can't go back. I can't let the pain stop me from helping you keep the Peace you fought so hard to win for us. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. For every life I take I'll feel guilty for the rest of my life but I will move on and I will survive. You promised me you would be by my side Nii-san; I want to be able to be by yours too."

Duo gathered Takato into a tight hug, petting his hair and rocking the both of them gently. He was crying, crying for his brother's lost innocence and for the wisdom the kid seemed to have  
beyond his years. He felt Takato wrap his hand around his braid and he squeezed him tighter thanking Fate again for letting him find the boy when he did.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Japanese

Ohayo gozaimasu—Good morning

Ninmou ryoukai—either mission accepted or something of the like.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Sorry for the long wait but wedding preparations and the attention span of a gold fish kind' a left me with no desire to type. Thankfully the wedding's now over and my attention span as been upgraded to that of a two year old.

Chapter 4

Takato heaved a quiet sigh. It was his 16th birthday and, much to his chagrin, Quatre had insisted on throwing a big party for him. It wasn't that the blond wanted to celebrate his sweet sixteen that exasperated him. It was more the guest list itself. Quatre had gone overboard with inviting people he had only met briefly, if ever. Of course Stefan and Hikaru were the first names on the list along with Une's adopted daughter Mariemaya. Noin and Sally Poe were also on that list, having impressed those two women with his strong determination. The good doctor had then become his primary physician in the course of the time that he helped the boys with missions. Sally had even been the one to introduce the three boys to Mariemaya when they had followed the boys to work one day for a school project. The petite red head had been shy and a little withdrawn, Sally saying that she didn't have any friends her age and that she was hoping the boys would take care of her. The three agreed whole heartedly, abducting the younger teen for some fun time to bond. During that time they talked just about everything including her time as a puppet for her Grandfather. The boys had been supportive, if a little surprised, and encouraged her to put it behind her.

Another person coming to his birthday made him cringe at the very thought. Relena, he had to admit, was not a person that he could stand very well. She didn't seem to realize that she tended to push her pacifist idealisms onto other people regardless of their opinions. He'd never liked fighting but there was a limit to even his patience. Dorothy and Hilde were nice but neither woman seem to catch the hint that he wasn't exactly like his brother. He'd only survived his first encounter with the Junkyard owner due to a lucky strike of a klutz attack. Trowa's sister Cathy was also invited, along with the multitude of Quatre's own sisters. Added on the list, much to his displeasure were his entire class and several dignitaries that were acquainted with Quatre and the other boys through work and his businesses. Out of the entire list only those close to Takato and the boys knew his relationship with Duo. Everyone else believed that he was Quatre's ward or the child of some specially favored employee. Of course he hoped that they wouldn't think otherwise. He had enough problems at school now without adding his brother and Quatre to the mix.

Takato was also nervous for another reason. The teen was using his birthday party to launch a version of the Digimon Card Game in this world. The idea had come from Hikaru unearthing his deck and D-Ark from his desk drawer one afternoon. The Asian teen had promptly demanded to know what the colorful cards and gadget were used for. Any other plans for that day had turned into a teaching session on how to play the game and then came the question of where the two other boys could get their own cards. At that Takato had been stumped. Realizing that he couldn't tell them the truth he said that he'd made it up himself with the help of some old friends. That night he put the rules on paper and wracked his brain to mush trying to remember all of the different cards. He then spent the next two weeks with sketching paper and pencils at hand trying to do a decent rendition of each image. After he was relatively sure that he had everything as exact as his poor brain and drawing skills could manage, he went around the city play grounds asking random kids and teens if they'd be interested in playing the game. The majority proving interested he approached Quatre with "his" idea and sketches. It so happened that when he brought his idea forward the blond was in the company of not only the other Pilots but one of his better acquainted business contacts. The man ran a small electronics company that used several of the Winner Enterprise electrical components in its gadgets. His business was also affiliated with a game company that was always in search of new and innovative games. While card games had been all the rage over well a century ago it was now "new" and different enough from video games that it would pick the collective interest of gamers. It took some time to talk the CEO of the Game Company into even looking at Takato's concept. Once the bigwigs and game designers had agreed that the game had a chance of being profitable they started designing and producing the templates needed for the printing of the cards and the manufacturing of the D-readers. With all the cards in print Takato formed 4 separate rare digivolution sets taken from Renamon, Terriermon, Monodramon and Impmon. He'd requested a single set made from Guilmon so he could always have his partner, in all his forms, by his side. Everyone wondered why he only wanted one print of the most powerful set but he kept the reason to himself.

Takato pulled himself out of his thoughts and fixed the collar of his dress shirt for the last time. All the guests were there and all they were waiting for was the birthday boy. The double doors of the ball room were opened for him by two smirking Maguanacs and he was shoved through playfully by one of them. He tripped slightly and he glared at the culprit with good humor before turning to his guests and thanking them for attending. What few guest were truly welcome received a warm smile as he past them while the rest got a nod of the head or a handshake. He spent some time trying to socialize with them, flitting from group to group like a hummingbird before finding the trio of friends waiting for him by the music player.

"Hey guys, not too bored I hope."

"We're fine. It must be cool to have so many important people here for your birthday."

"Not really. I'd rather have a smaller party with close friends and family than this. Most of these people are only here because this is Quatre."

"Well if you'd just tell them your bro's a Pilot they'd change their attitude towards you."

"And endanger not only myself but you guys as well. You know why we're keeping my connection to the boys low key Hikaru. There's enough people with a grudge against them as it is and enough media attention on Quatre 'supposedly taking a young ward' to last a life time. The critics say that a former Gundam Pilot isn't stable enough to raise a child, not including that Q-ball is one of the most stable of the lot and that it's Duo-nii that has legal custody. I'd hate to see what the so called experts would say if they knew that tidbit."

The two boys had to agree that Duo wasn't considered the best role model that most parents would trust. Especially since he still called himself Shinigami in public, it wasn't that he was viewed as irresponsible but there was just something that tended to send strangers scurrying the other way. And it also happened with the other boys exempting Quatre. It wasn't as perceptible in plain clothes but stick them in a uniform and people ran from them nearly screaming much to their exasperation. So the boys tended to isolate themselves except for important events like Takato's birthday and inescapable escort missions with dignitaries. Their reputations were also the reason why Rashid had assigned Takato with a rotation of Maguanac bodyguards that kept him company and kept him safe while outside the mansion or school. The six men knew for a fact that their teenaged charge could take care of himself but it served to give the illusion that he was just a normal boy prone to klutziness and not a part-time Preventer Agent prone accidents.

"Hey did you ask them yet?"

"Hadn't a chance to yet. I'll ask them either tonight or tomorrow. I'm sure Duo-nii and Quatre will say yes. What did your parents say Hikaru?"

"That St-Gabriel's the best school to attend and that I should be grateful for the opportunity to go to such a prestigious establishment. What about you Stef?"

"They were going to transfer me schools next year even if I hadn't asked. The school fees for St-Gabriel are getting a little too expensive for them. They're just happy that I was able to attend for three years. Maybe if we asked Quatre to talk your parents Hikaru, they'd let you transfer. Kushrenada Memorial is a very good school for being public."

"Yeah that might work. Will you ask him for me then Takato?"

"Of course, I'll give you guys a call to tell you their decision. In the meantime I think Duo is trying to tell us something."

True enough the braided man was trying to catch Takato's attention from the table that all the variously shaped presents had been placed. The four teens walked to the table, Takato taking his place in between Duo and Quatre behind the large pile. He smiled at everyone there and started digging for a present. The first present turned out to be a bauble that was very popular with rich kids but that Takato considered a useless knick-knack. He smiled at the person saying a quiet thank you before moving on. The majority of the pile consisted mostly of the same kind of useless things Takato would never use. Some had realized that shopping for a teen they didn't know much about was difficult and had opted for the ever timeless use of a gift card. Even then some of the stores chosen weren't places he liked to shop in for himself. He once had to be dragged kicking and screaming in one particular store by Quatre for all the formal wear now collecting dust in his closet. One of his classmates surprised him with the gift of a painting she'd done herself. He'd never really spoken with her, having always respected her wish to be left alone but now he resolved to be more attentive to her. Her painting was of a Knight in white armor; sound asleep against the side of a large red dragon. The beast was curled around the knight protectively, head raised high in an alert pose. He thanked her enthusiastically, truly enchanted with the present. Maybe he'd put this painting next to the one Quatre had given him 3 years ago. The next present he unearthed from the dwindling pile was Marie's in a blue and yellow wrapped box. She smiled at him, hoping he'd like the gift. His eyes went wide as he opened the box and pushed the tissue paper aside. Inside the gift was a pair of yellow framed, blue lenses that looked remarkably close to his old goggles that had been broken in the Digital World.

"Thank you Marie, you have no idea how much this means to me. How did you know to get me something like this?"

"Duo mentioned that you had kept a broken pair of goggles like these from when he found you. I figured they meant something to you and thought you might like another pair."

He went to hug the girl and thank the rest of the guests for their gifts. Suddenly a pair of keys was being dangled in front of his face and he turned to face his brother.

"Here's our present to you Takato. It's pretty lucky that Mariemaya got you goggles; you're gonna need them. Go look outside."

Takato rushed to the outside balcony and looked around until he spotted a motorbike parked in front of the stairs to the garden. He cleared the balcony in one vaulting leap, totally forgetting about the stairs as he hurried down to go examine his bike. It was an older model, proven to be durable and reliable, made by an incredibly old company. It wasn't a Harley but Honda was just as renowned in this era. The teen turned to the boys and beamed at them, dashing back up the balcony stairs to hug each one.

"Thanks you guys. I love it!"

"We knew you would after you talked Heero in bringing you for a ride. I think that was the last of the presents. Want to move on to the cards yet?"

"Nah, I thank that everyone would rather eat now. The cards can wait until after."

Quatre's small legion of chefs had outdone themselves again for the birthday feast laid out on buffet tables set along the walls of the dining hall next to the ballroom. All of Takato's favorites were in evidence, supplemented by exotic dishes that were in season all over the world. The Pastry Chef had also outshined the cake this year. The thing was huge, in three layers with sophisticated icing for decoration. Although Takato noticed the woman's attempt at humor in the form of a red icing doodle of Guilmon's head next to his. Where she would have gotten the image for Guilmon was a bit of a mystery but since everyone in the house knew about those cards, it wasn't too far of an imagination stretch.

Once the birthday boy and his guests were fed Quatre disappeared behind an alcove curtain and reappeared pushing a cart full of the new card game. The teenagers present in the room crowded curiously around him, politely waiting for him to say anything.

"Right, this, Ladies and Gentlemen is a new card game that Takato has been working on for the last several months. Everyone who wants to learn this game can take one starter and two booster packs. After you're done getting the cards, Takato will explain the game to you and have some of you play against him to show you how it works. Once you have the hang of it you'll be able to play against each other."

Quatre let the attention of the guests turn to the teen that held his own deck and one of the new readers in hand. The former Tamer explained the rules of the game and the basics behind the monster and modify cards necessary in a deck before asking Stefan to play a game with him. They played a quick game, putting Takato's theory into practice for the others. Once they saw how it was done they opened their packs and tried to put together a decent deck. Game practice kept the younger guests busy until late evening when they left to go study their cards at home. Several of the adults also left with packs in their pockets for younger children in their families.

Takato stood outside Quatre's study, indecisive about actually going in. He knew that the blond Pilot was busy and probably didn't have time to waste with his request. But then again he also knew that he would be terribly upset if Takato forwent asking him anything just because he had work to do. Taking a deep breath he knocked and waited politely for the go ahead to enter. When he got it he pushed the heavy mahogany door open to see the blond head bent over his work desk. The scribbling of Quatre's pen stopped momentarily as his head came up to see his visitor. He smiled, putting down the writing tool and motioned for Takato to take a seat.

"What can I do for you Takato?"

"Ano… the guys and I have been talking about switching schools to attend Kushrenada Memorial with Marie. I've already asked Duo-nii and he likes the idea."

"So why come to me? I know I was paying for the tuition at St-Gabriel's but Duo can more than manage the fees for the new school."

"I know that but Hikaru's parents don't want him to switch. Maybe if they knew you liked the idea too that they'd change their minds."

"What about Stefan's parents? What do they think about this?"

"They were gonna switch him anyway. It would be a bummer if Hikaru was the only one not allowed to transfer and I know you're busy but could you try to convince them?"

Quatre smiled indulgently at Takato and nodded ascent making the teen cheer and lunge across the desk to give him a quick hug. The blond laughed aloud as Takato dashed out of his study and up to his room, reaching for his phone to make a few calls.

Hikaru walked up to the family living-room warily. His parents were waiting for him in there to talk about something. Generally that meant that they weren't happy about something or other and meetings in here tended to be tense. When he opened the door he found both of his parents sitting on the couch leaving the overstuffed loveseat across from them for him. He took note of his parents' postures and got mixed signals. His father was sitting stiff backed, on the edge of the cushions. His mother on the other hand was settled comfortably, sipping at her favorite jasmine tea. So whatever the subject of discussion, while his father wasn't happy about it, he wasn't in trouble.

"You wanted to see me, Tou-sama, Kaa-sama?"

"Yes we did Hikaru, please have a seat."

Hikaru did as ask, sitting on the very edge of the loveseat, afraid of making himself too comfortable.

"Winner-dono called today. He mentioned that you had already asked but that you hoped that if he endorsed your wish that we would change our minds. Please tell us why you want to transfer schools so badly."

Hikaru glanced at his father's stony face and at his mother's serenely curious one for any hint of their feelings about this. While his mother looked to be ready to give him a chance, his father appeared to be adamant about his refusal.

"I don't like St-Gabriel's. I know that it's a good school and all but the kids there are all a bunch of snobs and they don't really care about you as a person. They only see you as a way to get ahead in the world and if they can use you for their own gain. Takato and Stefan are my only real friends besides Mariemaya and she's not ever in that school. Plus we are her only friends. We wanted to go to her school to keep her company and maybe help her get more friends. Besides I don't care for the prestige associated with the Academy."

Hikaru's father frowned at his son's logic but really couldn't deny it. He, himself, had been lucky to have even one good friend while attending the school. That one friend was the one to introduce him to his wife and was his child's godparent. Losing that person during the war had been difficult and he could sympathize with Hikaru to an extant. Still it wasn't like the other two boys would be moving to another city or even disappearing forever.

"I say that we let him transfer Anata. Going to a public school will be a good experience for him after all. Besides friendships is one of the most important parts of a teenager's life."

"Sigh, very well but you better keep your grades up or I will not be pleased with you Hikaru."

Hikaru whooped and launched himself at his parents to hug them then race out of the room. He never noticed the look of concern his parents shared as he left. Something was wrong in their world and they would make sure that their son wouldn't know about it.

The summer following their final school year at St-Gabriel's Academy was spent at the mansion, lazily coasted through for the most part by the younger men. Every now and then Takato was asked to assist in some missions that left all six of the boys a little puzzled. Over the three years that the youngest had joined they had found and arrested several groups of mercenaries and terrorists that were, for all intents and purposes, only in existence as distractions. None of the leaders captured alive knew who, or what, was funding them. All they could ever say was that the man had a really creepy voice. Another thing that most of the Preventers HQ had discovered was a rash of strange internet cappers that had started a little over the three years. This, Takato hoped wasn't part of or caused by his own Digital problems. On top of all this Hikaru finally noticed that his parents were acting strangely too. Usually they spent several weeks of the summer vacation traveling around as a family. This summer Hikaru had been strongly encouraged to spend as much time as possible away from home. The few times he was allowed home were spent in a tense atmosphere and his parents constantly looking over their shoulders. When he called them on it they refused to acknowledge that something was wrong and tried to distract him from it. While Hikaru knew something was amiss, without knowing the truth behind it, he could do nothing to help. Thus when the first disaster struck, it came as a severe shock to everyone.

Takato tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. He'd gone to bed early unusually tired for the time of night. Light dozing had been all he'd managed until 2 o'clock in the morning then not even that. Finally giving up he sat up and shoved his sheets off just as his bedside phone rang. He jumped, startled from the quietness of the late hour. Settling anxiously back onto his mattress he picked up tentatively.

"Moshi moshi?"

"M. Matsuki? I'm Officer Étienne Lafontaine from the Sank Police. The presence of your guardian and of yourself is needed at St-Mary's General Hospital. Everything will be explained upon your arrival. See you soon."

He stared at the receiver as it delivered the dial tone to his ears. Both Hikaru and Stefan had put him and Duo down as people to contact in case of emergency, fully knowing that neither had any immediate family other than their parents. So it stood to reason that something had happened to either the Wagner's or to the Mizuno's. Takato grabbed a jacket and threw it on as he tried to push his feet into his shoes in his sitting room. He'd managed to put one on by the time that Duo pocked his head tiredly in.

"Who was that Takato?"

"The Police, they want us at St-Mary's."

"Right, I'll go get my stuff."

Duo hurried to his room and got his things then going to Quatre's door and knocking loudly, the blond answered, already somewhat awake.

"Takato and I are going to the hospital. We'll tell you what's going on once we know."

"Alright, be careful."

The two siblings rushed to the garage where Duo grabbed his motorbike. They had no time to waste.

------------------------------------------------------------

An: Cliffy, yay! Anywho you'll have to tune in next time to see who got hurt. Hopefully the next chapter will come out sooner than this one did.

Japanese

Ano- equivalent to um

Tou-sama or Otou-san- very formal wait of addressing your father

Kaa-sama or Okaa-san – same for mother

Dono- coming from the word Tono meaning lord, very formal way of addressing someone more than Sama

Anata- you or also used as a term of endearment like Dear

Moshi- word used to say hello when answering the phone (please tell me if I'm wrong)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Takato rushed off the bike as soon as his brother stopped it in its slot. He all but ran into the hospital, skidding to a stop in from of the front reception desk. The tired nurse behind the desk looked at him warily.

"Can I help you?"

"A Police Officer said to come here. Oh, what was his name… something Lafontaine? Where is he?"

"Officer Lafontaine is waiting for a Mr. Matsuki. I doubt that he has time to deal with a child. So if you could please leave."

Takato barely kept himself from screaming at the woman and growled through his teeth while shoving his Preventer badge in her face.

"For your information Lady, I am Preventer Agent Takato Matsuki and if you don't tell me where I can find Officer Lafontaine right this minute, I will make sure to make your life a living Hell. Got me?"

The poor woman's face paled as she examined the very official badge and picture ID that came with it. She gulped uncomfortably; paling further as renowned Gundam Pilot Duo Maxwell came up behind Takato and frowned at her. The nurse couldn't help but point towards the doors leading to a short corridor and stutter.

"R-right down there S-sir, i-in the main w-waiting room."

Takato growled again, this time at himself for having to resort to his status to bully the information out of the woman. He nodded his understanding at her and turned on his heel, not bothering to check if Duo was following. He tried to calm his anger as he approached the double doors leading into the room itself but didn't quite succeed.

"Officer Lafontaine I presume?"

The man in question looked up quickly from his note pad then looked down at his watch. He frowned at the timing then shrugged. Standing he walked over to the two, motioning them into the room proper.

"Yes, Mr. Matsuki and Mr. Maxwell. I would have preferred to do this at the station but Mr. Wagner needs to have an adult representative here and Mr. Maxwell is the only one listed."

"Wait, what happened to Stef's parents?"

"I'll be getting to that Mr. Matsuki. Some time ago the neighbors called to report an unusual disturbance occurring next door. Approximately five minutes before we got there young Mr. Wagner managed to make it to their door and collapse there. Once we arrived we searched the house to find the bodies of both adults. Neither one was left alive. Their son was brought here and is currently undergoing surgery. This incident has been classified a homicide and will be dealt with accordingly. Do either of you have any idea why the Wagner's would be targets of a murderer?"

Duo and Takato shared a confused look and shook their heads in a negative answer. The Wagner's had been moderately wealthy owners of an electronics shop. The ten employees currently working for the shop were all happy with their lot in life and there hadn't been any hostile dismissals among any previous workers. They even had a recent boom of customers who were looking to repair their computers or get better software protection in the rash of internet thievery. The crime didn't make sense to either boys and they said as much to Officer Lafontaine.

"I see, well as it is Mr. Maxwell, you'll be given temporary custody of Stefan Wagner until a relative can be located for him. In the mean time we will keep you updated on anything not utterly vital to the case. Hopefully we'll get a lead on this soon. Now if you will excuse me I need to get back to the station."

Officer Lafontaine tipped his hat in the boys' direction before slipping past the two and out the door. Takato took that opportunity to collapse in a plastic seat nearest him. He dropped his head into his hands, feeling his brother take a seat next to him.

"What are we gonna do, Duo-nii?"

"I'm not sure Takato. The Preventers can't stick their noses into this since it's not part of our jurisdiction. All we can really do right now is be there for Stefan and make sure he knows he's not alone."

Takato leaned into Duo, seeking comfort from a habit he'd developed during his time in the Trauma Center. The young man put an arm around the teen's shoulders as his hands reached for the braid. They stayed like that for what seemed to be an eternity until a Doctor in scrubs entered the room. The man looked around the room before coming to stand in front of them.

"I take it that the two of you are here for Mr. Wagner?"

At their nod he continued.

"I'm Dr Hassam, Head Trauma Surgeon and Neurologist for the hospital. I've just finished operating on the boy and I must say he's lucky that he only lost the one eye. He's going to have some nasty scarring to the right side. Whatever hit him caught him at the edge of his lower right jaw and ripped into his eye and scalp. The force of impact fractured the bone and caused him to crack the back of his skull when he must have fallen. Mr. Wagner will have to remain hospitalized until we're sure that infection won't take root in the eye socket or the three slashes across his face. That should take maybe two weeks. If we release him by then he'll still be on soft foods and kept under supervision until we say otherwise. Any questions?"

"Can we see him now?"

"Not right now, he's in ICU until later today. If there are no complications from the surgery he'll be moved to a private room but until then it would be best to leave him be. Why don't you return home and I'll have the nurse call you? By the looks of things the two of you also need rest."

Neither wanted to leave but it was apparent that the doctor wouldn't budge on seeing Stefan. On top of that the other boys would need to be told about the murders and Hikaru still didn't know anything was wrong. Duo made sure the nurse had both the home number and his cell phone before he and Takato left for the day.

The two were met at the door by Rashid who pointed in the direction of the kitchen before either could ask. Going where they were told to they found the four boys already up, wide awake and trying to keep a sleepy Hikaru upright at the ungodly hour of false dawn. The Mizuno adults walked in just as Takato was going to ask why the other teen was there.

"We figured that you would rather have to explain what is going on the once so we tried to reach the Wagner's and the Mizuno's. Obviously we only got hold of Hikaru and his parents."

"Yeah thanks Quat. Stef got out of surgery 'bout a half hour ago. He's gonna be scarred on most of the right side of his face and he's lost his eye completely. His parents… his parents were murdered in their home. The Sank Police haven't found any clues yet either."

Hikaru had become wide awake the second Duo had finished the word surgery and he'd become horrified at what had happened to his best friend. His mother had come to his side instantly, tears in her eyes. His father fished around for an empty seat and let himself fall into it, face unreadable while the four boys blinked owlishly in surprise. When the information finally sank in Wufei cursed out loud violently, the other three echoed that reaction in their own ways but all four looked positively murderous.

"Did the Police say anything at all that would help us find the murderer?"

"No, Officer Lafontaine seemed pretty aware that we may do something illegal if he gave too much information. Like I told Takato we can't do anything in this. We're too emotionally involved and murder is not Preventer's jurisdiction."

"But why would Stefan's family be targets of murder? It doesn't make sense. Nothing was stolen from the house and the killer didn't even bother to stop Stefan from escaping."

As the boys hashed out possible reasons for this to happen Takato got the feeling that there was something entirely wrong with this event. He couldn't put his finger on it but he hoped that it had nothing to do with the assault he survived himself.

It took Stefan three weeks in the hospital before he could be brought home to the mansion. The media had a field day when they found out that the sole survivor of the Wagner Murders was to be put in the permanent custody of Gundam Pilot Duo Maxwell. Not having any willing relatives to take him in the Social Services had had no choice but to leave him in Duo's care. More over that Stefan himself had adamantly refused to be sent to a foster home. By the time that his wounds had healed enough for his first day of school it was already two months into the first term of the year. Takato and the other boys had helped him stay reasonably up to date in school work so he didn't have to be nervous about being clueless. What he wished he wasn't clueless about was his new classmates' reaction to his face. Stefan knew that he had been a quietly handsome teen before his disfigurement. Everyone who cared kept telling him that he wasn't ugly, even with the three red parallel scars running from the top to bottom right side of his face. Takato kept assuring him that the red would fade to white after some time and most people would stop noticing them once they were used to it as if he knew from experience. Stefan had smiled at the other teen and let it drop, thinking that neither of his friends could really understand what he was going through. Hikaru was still secure in his self image and his parents' arms while Takato was probably the closest in having lost his parents some time ago but Stefan had never noticed any significant scarring like his. Of course unknown to the two Takato had made sure that none of the boys in their class, or the two, ever saw his back or left shoulder.

So when it came time for him to be officially introduced to his new school, the normally studious teen had balked at even leaving the sanctuary of the mansion. When Takato had started to pull him forward he'd dug his heels into the carpet and refused to follow. Heero and Duo had solved that problem by picking him up bodily and dropping him in the convertible they'd chosen just for this purpose. The two men then drove to the school and had to man-handle the quivering teen to the Principle's office. The woman in charge of the school refused to look at him in the eye as she gave him his schedule and any of the books he didn't already have. Leaving to go to class, he walked out on his own but was closely followed by Takato and the two men. Stefan counted himself lucky that he had all of his classes with either Takato or Hikaru. Duo had made sure to request this on his behalf, positive that having one or both of the boys there with him would be best for him. So they walked through the empty halls to reach a classroom that had its door open and a young woman standing in it, waiting for them.

"I was waiting for you before I started the class. I'm Miss Schlemkevitch (a.n pronounced sh-lem-ke-vitch), the English teacher and your homeroom teacher. I hope that if you have any problems that you'll be able to come to me with them. I'm not a very strict teacher but I expect nothing but the best from my students. So I'm hoping that you will do your very best in all your subjects. Am I expecting too much of you, Mr. Wagner?"

"No Ma'am."

"I'm glad to hear that. Now if you could go in, I'll introduce you to the rest of the class."

Ms. Schlemkevitch went in first, followed by Takato and Hikaru who went directly to their assigned seats. She motioned for Stefan to enter and wrote his name on the blackboard then turned to face the class again.

"This is Stefan Wagner. He spent the last few months recovering from his injuries and is now finally able to join us. While he has gone through some rather traumatic events he is no different than the rest of you. Stefan, you can go take a seat next to Takato."

The first class went by without to much fuss. Ms Schlemkevitch was a patient, fair woman who called on the students pretty much equally. It wasn't so with the next teacher. Mr. Sussex was the Geography professor with a huge attitude problem. He was an arrogant man and overly prickish. The man took an impish delight in picking on Stefan since the boy, in his opinion, already had an inflated ego. Hikaru and Takato had been forced to bite their tongues during the lesson but the minute that he'd let the students go to break they'd disabused him of his ridicules notion. All the other teachers were polite after that but none dared look Stefan in the face.

Stefan was resigned to be a social outcast. If none of the adults could stand to be around him or look at him than there was little chance of the students taking a shine to him. Teenagers were incredibly judgmental and shallow. He didn't expect them to see past his scars. He also worried that he would cause Takato, Hikaru and Marie to lose any friends they'd already made. The three assured him that they didn't care what others thought. If they couldn't take heads out of their asses then they weren't worth their time. All in all the first day of school for Stefan proved to be the norm for the rest of the year.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Takato sighed, bored to be doing nothing. Yes, it was his job to keep the escape shuttle safe while the boys did their thing but between the times they left and came back had very little excitement. Movement on the vid-screen made him alert only to semi relax again as a cat went across the space. Humming to himself, he went over the information that Lady Une had given Heero, Duo and Trowa before leaving. This rebel base was assumed to be just like all the others the Preventers had stormed recently. Intelligence had reported that while they were somewhat better equipped than most other such bases, they didn't seem to have a purpose besides terrorizing civilians. The teen's thoughts wandered onto what Stefan would say when he and three of the five Pilots would come home. Takato and Stefan had come home from school only for the brunette to be swiped off his feet and rushed back out the door, leaving the other poor boy gaping in the entry way. Lady Une had been adamant when she accepted Takato officially as a Preventer that his friends were not to learn of his involvement. Even the public didn't know due to his young age. Takato had complained that the Pilots had been his age when they joined and nobody fussed over it. Her answer to that was that they had been soldiers during the war and the people didn't see them as children anymore. Not being able to argue further Takato let it go and resigned himself to avoiding the subject until the foreseeable future.

He tugged at his uniform collar uncomfortably, the thick fabric chaffing at his neck. He hated to wear the thing but could understand the need for it. Unlike the Pilots, he wasn't recognizable as an authority figure otherwise. Duo kept telling him that that was a blessing considering that he could blend in with the general populace easier than even Trowa could. Takato wasn't so sure about that. He hoped that he could stop wearing the distracting ensemble soon enough.

Noise over the loudspeakers drew his wandering attention back to the video feeds. The cat from before came back in this direction running full tilt, followed closely by the three men who'd gone in for the base. The three were obviously being pursued so Takato jabbed a finger onto the airlock opening button then settled at the external weaponry controls. His hands were steady as he narrowed his eyes to aim for the people threatening his comrades. The bad guys scattered around the shuttle, shooting randomly at the men trying to get under cover and trying to avoid getting it themselves. Stomping up the ramp was his indication that the others had made it on board, Duo and Heero going to the cockpit without a word. Trowa joined him at the other gunner's station to help supply suppression fire. More soldiers appeared some carrying Armor Piercing weaponry and ammunitions. Takato changed the direction of his guns and fired a salvo a foot or so in front of the men. Concrete debris from the blast pelted the shell shocked men, one piece hitting a man hard enough in the head to kill him. The youngest Preventer clenched his jaw tight and gripped the trigger harder. It never stopped hurting every time someone died by his hand. He let the pain have its moment even has he literally disarmed another man with the massive gun. Shooting stopped as soon as the shuttle lifted out of range of the men on the ground, allowing Takato and Trowa to relax.

"Hey guys, what happened down there?"

"We don't know. One minute everything's quiet, the next the alarms are going off and men are chasing us out of the base. We didn't manage to get to our objective."

"It was creepy, like they were just waiting for us to make a wrong move and they knew we were coming."

Takato contemplated this information for a minute and frowned at his conclusion.

"Heero, I think you and the IT guys are gonna have to go over the comps back at HQ. I've got a hunch that whoever is behind all this found a way to access our information network."

The Perfect Soldier turned around in his seat to frown suspiciously at the teen. There was that feeling again that Takato was holding something back, and he didn't like it. He glanced sideways at his partner to see a concerned frown on his face. Duo had picked up on the same thing that meant that Trowa also would have the same feeling they did. They were going to have to confront the boy sooner than later about a lot of things.

When the four agents reached home they were pleased to find that Stefan merely greeted them without asking any questions. The blond gave Takato the schoolwork he had missed over the previous two days and left it at that. He figured that whatever his friend was hiding from him was done for a good reason and that the other teen would reveal it on his own time. Now if this had been Hikaru he'd have been badgered for the truth long before now.

Takato tossed and turned in bed, feeling far too restless for proper sleep. What fitful sleep managed to find him was troubled by snatches of images that worried him. First to appear before his mind's eye was the familiar house of the Mizuno, flames starting to lick at the windows. The next blip in the dream he found himself seeing from another person's point of view, his breathing ragged from the smoke and a warm liquid running down his left side. He couldn't feel that arm at all. Takato panicked as the person he was doubling passed before a mirror and Hikaru was revealed to him. He screamed for the boy to move, to head for the door. He was shaken abruptly awake, a scream dying in his throat as his eyes focused on his worried brother.

"Takato, its ok, it's just a nightmare."

He stared at Duo dumbly then lunged for his phone and the speed dial button. The two waited impatiently for someone to answer. When the phone died without being answered he knew that something was horribly wrong. Seeing Takato's horrified expression Duo bolted out the door, yelling for Wufei to get his but in gear and to wear his Preventer's uniform. Everyone else was ordered to stay here. The three headed out towards Hikaru's home at top speed, arriving shortly after the police and the fire trucks. The house was billowing out huge gouts of flames and foul black smoke forcing the firemen to remain as far away as their hoses allowed them. The police were busy trying to keep curious neighbors from getting on the scene. An ambulance caught their attention, the paramedics loading a single figure on a stretcher into the vehicle. Takato slipped past the cordon of officers and rushed to his friend's side. He barely heard the police officers yelling at him to stay back or Duo to wait for him. The paramedics ignored him except to tell him to stay out of the way. An officer reached him and pulled him away from the men working to stabilize and move the unconscious victim to the hospital.

"Whoa there kid, you're not supposed to be here."

Coughs made the man look up, facing the two Preventers with a frown.

"If you could let go of my little brother I'd be grateful lieutenant."

"What are you guys doing here? This isn't part of your jurisdiction."

"We are very well aware of that. Only Takato had a nightmare about his friend's current situation and insisted on coming here. And seeing as I am a family contact in case of emergencies, I have a right to be here."

Duo turned to the medics and with a serious look at them told them to send Hikaru to the Winner Memorial Trauma Center. They nodded understanding and loaded the boy in the ambulance and rushed off. Paying attention again he found Wufei trying to keep his temper around the officer and Takato wandering around the edges of where they had found Hikaru. Suddenly the boy crouched down by the curb and called for one of the forensic people to come and look at what he'd found. Curiosity got the three older men to come closer as the woman first took a picture then used a large pair of tweezers to pick up a large golden ring. She put it in a clear evidence bag to examine it a little closer.

"This is weird I've never seen symbols like these before. By the looks of things the boy dropped it after leaving the house."

Duo and Wufei looked at each other, sure that they had seen the marks on the ring somewhere before and by the paleness of Takato, they knew that the boy knew exactly what the piece of metal meant.

"Takato, you know what that ring is, don't you?"

Unable to verbalize his thoughts the Tamer pulled his deck from its holster and shuffled the cards until he found one in particular. The Black Gatomon was thrust out to Duo who took the card questioningly. For all answer the boy pointed at her tail and the large gold band at the tip.

"So maybe somebody decided to make toys and this is from one. Digimon are just a card game Takato."

Takato refused to say anything as he took the card from his brother's hand. He knew that they wouldn't believe him unless they saw Digimon for themselves. This attack confirmed it for him that the problems that had been plaguing the Earth Sphere and the Colonies Digital based and he had a sinking feeling that he knew who was behind it all.

The two Preventers saw the guilty feeling cross their charge's face and they didn't like it. What could he possibly be guilty about? He obviously thought that he knew what had done this to Hikaru and his family. Digimon weren't real, were they?

The boys gathered in one of Quatre's living rooms after seeing the younger teens to bed.

"Takato knows something about this. He had this really guilty look on his face after he found that Gatomon ring thing. And I think it's connected to whatever attacked him three and a half years ago."

"We're gonna have trouble getting it out of him then. He's been tight lipped about it for this long; he won't just open up and spill everything."

"It worries me. Takato knows we would listen to him. He has no reason to hide anything from us."

"Hn, it's more that he's afraid we won't choose to believe his side of the story. So whoever is the enemy may not fall into any basic category of unusual we've ever came across. By your own admission Takato tried to show you who hurt Hikaru."

Duo and Wufei looked at each other with a sinking feeling in the chest. They were going to have to investigate more before confronting Takato. But if a Digital World and the Digimon really did exist then that would explain a lot of things.

Takato stared at his D-Ark through the semi darkness of his bedroom. It had stayed silent throughout the night's events; never even reacting to close proximity to the tail ring that had to be made of Digital Alloy. Stefan curled up beside him, the right side of his face still lined with the angry red of new scar tissue. His guilt soared even higher, finally realizing just what would have caused those wounds. He clutched the thing that had been dear to him for so long; debating wither to chuck it at a wall or not. Deciding the sudden motion would wake up his friend he put it on his night stand then settled down to try and sleep.

Wufei pushed the door to the Trauma Center with apparent purpose. The sterilized air of the building hit his nose making him sneeze quietly. He hated places like these if only because he'd seen one to many in his short lifetime. The Chinese Preventer approached the main desk where a young nurse was busy giggling at her partner. He coughed to get their attention and both females blushed at the sight of him.

"Is there anything I can do for you Sir?"

Wufei forced himself to remain civil as the twit batted an eyelash at him.

"Yes, I'd like to know what room Mizuno Hikaru is in."

The nurse tried to pout prettily at not getting a reaction out of the handsome man before turning to her computer and pulling the requested information up.

"Room 104 in ICU Sir"

"Thank you."

Wufei nodded at the Police Officer standing guard at the door, who opened it to let him through. The man's superior was waiting inside, seated in one of the two chairs set along the wall opposite the bed. The Lieutenant got up as soon as the door opened to greet Wufei.

"Mizuno woke up about an hour ago and demanded to see you. He wouldn't answer any of my questions."

"I'll give you any information relevant to the investigation if I found out any."

The man frowned, not pleased at having to go to a second party to get info from his witness; especially from a Preventer. He left the two alone.

"Can you tell me what happened, Hikaru?"

The boy glanced first at the door to his room then stared at Wufei in silence. The Preventer was about to ask again when he spoke up quietly.

"There was a man that forced his way into the house. He wore a trench coat and a large brim hat; his hands were covered by black gloves. Father tried to find out why the man was attacking us. He just cackled in answer and cut him down, Mother died being suffocated. I tried to stay hidden but I hit something on my way down the hall. There was a feeling like a breeze was blowing across me and then I couldn't feel my arm anymore. I looked behind me and I saw it…" At this Hikaru looked up from his sheets, confusion clear in his eyes.

"… There was a Black Gatomon standing there; its claws were bloody and it was smirking at me. It jumped at me again and this time I dodged. I tried to grab its tail but only got the Ring. I ran after that; they'd started a fire while I was busy with the Gatomon. Digimon can't be real, right? I dreamed that one in my delirium, yes?"

Wufei didn't know what to tell the boy. They had proof that no, it wasn't a hallucination on his part but he couldn't bring himself to believe the evidence. Takato had invented the Digimon card game only recently. There was no way that anyone could fake a creature that convincingly just yet. They'd have to wait and see what would happen now.

AN: No new Japanese in this chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Hikaru spent the rest of their junior year in the hospital, in both physical and psychological therapy. The trauma of witnessing his parents' murders had impacted the realization that he had lost the use of a full arm. The Gatomon had removed the limb at the shoulder, leaving a clean cut through flesh and bone and joint. It had resulted in forcing the doctors to grow skin cells to graft unto the raw wound to close it. The end product was a mass of near unfeeling scar tissue that was somewhat unsightly but functional. It allowed the doctors to introduce the boy to a special prosthetic created for his use. There were special receptors in the shoulder socket that translated minute electrical impulses into movement. The arm wouldn't be as functional as his other flesh and blood one but would at least fill a rather large gap.

While Hikaru stayed in the hospital things in the Winner Mansion were getting a bit tense. Takato, in an atypical move, had retreated to his suit of rooms; refusing to leave them and talk to anyone. Nothing short of a mission from Lady Une pulled him away from his funk. Even then he did his duties in sullen silence. The boys noticed that he'd taken to carry not only his D-Ark but his deck of Digimon cards as well. This just made the Pilots more certain that Digimon might be real although they still had no real evidence show to the Lady. They tried getting the former Tamer to talk to them but he only looked at them with sad eyes and shut mouth.

"Rika, you're going to be late!"

A pale, shapely hand appeared from under a thin comforter to pull the fabric higher over a thin shoulder and up over a head of messy red-brown hair. The attempt to ignore the world was foiled as the shoji door was slid open with a loud clack and an elderly woman strode into the room.

"Honestly Rika, you can't afford to miss more school; it's time to get up."

"I don't feel like going Grandma. Leave me alone."

The woman sighed as her eyes fell unto a calendar with a date circled in red sharpie. She picked it up, her heart sinking as she realized what day it was. Takato had been gone five years today, the boy leaving a big hole in her granddaughter's heart. She had always suspected that Rika was closer to the boy than she liked to admit. He had been her first real human friend after all. He was a force of nature that couldn't be denied; before Takato she had always isolated herself. The whole Tamer business had helped her little girl grow into a wonderful young woman with friends that she could be proud to associate with. In fact the Lee boy had stepped forward to act like a brother for her. He was usually the first to be called if she couldn't find Rika in her usual haunts. Shaking herself from her thoughts she smiled softly at the pile of human and blanket.

"I understand Rika but could you at least get up from bed? It wouldn't do to waste your whole day inside."

Her granddaughter complied with the request, sitting up on her futon and letting the comforter fall to her lap lazily. She sat there as her grandmother left the room quietly, waiting for her to be farther down the hall before raising slowly to her feet. Rika moved silently to her desk where a photo frame called to her. She picked it up, caressing the glass over the face of her lost friend, sending a small prayer as she did for his safe return. Depositing it back onto the wooden surface she turned towards her wardrobe and hunted down her only skirt and her newer broken hearted shirt. Dressing she hopped to her chest of drawers where a small porcelain box held the first and only present Takato had ever given her. The box itself was white, painted with delicate cherry and plum blossoms and a pretty nightingale with a sprig of cherry flowers in its beak. Jenrya had given it to her just before Takato had pulled a delicate gold chain from his pocket. The chain links were fashioned in the shape of leaves interspersed with amethyst cut flowers. Attached to one link was a fox shaped charm with the kanji for fox protector engraved on the back. She had questioned him for the choice and he'd answered that the charm was supposed to represent Renamon so she'd never truly be without her beloved partner. The two boys were the only ones that truly knew just how important Renamon had been to her. They had chosen their gifts to reflect that knowledge and to tell her how much they cared for her themselves. The charm was to protect her while the box was to house the charm, in turn protecting it.

Sighing she opened the box and stared at the bracelet waiting for her to pick it up. She only ever wore it now on this day. It hurt too much otherwise to think of the boy she could have pictured herself with. She had been too young at thirteen to realize that her admiration of him could be love. She knew now, what she hadn't then, how painful it was not being able to share her feelings.

Jenrya followed the path up to the old shelter at a steady pace his school bag slung over a shoulder. He was gripping his D-Ark tightly in one hand. As he approached the concrete structure he noticed that Rika was sitting inside the door frame fiddling with her own digivice.

"Hey Rika, did you spend your whole day here?"

"No, I went and spent some time at the Bakery this morning. They closed it for the day. It feels like they've given up on him."

"They haven't. They're just waiting for him to come home like the rest of us."

Rika stood and Jenrya pulled her into a tight hug. They stayed like that for some time, enjoying the comfort of each other's warmth until Jen pulled back a little.

"Wanna come for supper tonight? Suzie would be happy to see you again."

"Sure just let me call Grandma and tell her where I'll be."

Yamaki paced the floor of the surveillance room inside Hypnos. Ever since the Matsuki boy had disappeared he'd been a nervous wreck on this day. It had been a blow to their collective pride that they hadn't been able to locate the former Tamer inside a world that should have stayed closed off. Shibumi and the Monster Makers had been called back in an attempt to crack the static stopping them from doing an in depth search for him. Ever since then the group had worked on contacting any of the guardian Digimon without success. Even worse was the unidentifiable sporadic activity that occurred all over the network. Shibumi had speculated that something bad was going on in the Digital World and that the artificial world had pulled Takato in, in an attempt fix the problem. It had, obviously, not worked to a full extent. While Bio-fields didn't come to digital life in the Real World Digital chaos was running amok, damaging programs with an unusual amount of new viral infections in the technological sectors.

Noise from above his head pulled him from his introspection. Riley and her tech partner were up in the mobile chairs patrolling the net for any signs of unusual activity. One such event was happening right at that moment, both women intent on their monitors and keyboards.

"Sir, there's a Bio-Field appearing in West Shinjuku. More specifically near Guilmon's old shelter!"

"I'll head there right away. Keep me posted on any new developments!"

Yamaki ran to his car and rushed through the light dinner time traffic towards the West Shinjuku Park. He parked his ride haphazardly, scaring several park patrons into scattering away. He rushed into the park itself, the path to the shelter having been memorized a long time ago. A thick cloying mist was just starting to dissipate as he approached the isolated structure. Several figures lying on the ground were slowly revealed to Yamaki and he stifled a gasp.

"Oh my god, Takato?"

Summer had come and gone with Hikaru finally being allowed to move in with the boys. It was only at that point that he realized just how much Takato had distanced himself from them all. Whenever he tried to talk with his friend the boy refused to meet his eyes and gave a pathetic excuse to be left alone. The Asian boy had looked at the other males living in the household for some kind of explanation only to get none. Stefan was just as ignorant of their best friend's guilty conscience as Hikaru. The other five obviously knew something or at least had a speculation but weren't sharing. So it was that Takato's seventeenth birthday was spent rather quietly with the birthday boy absent from their company.

It was a week later, on the anniversary of Duo finding Takato in the park that things started to move along in a strange way. Stefan had managed to talk the former Tamer into joining the group in one of the living rooms. He sat in one of the armchairs, steadily ignoring the others in the room in favor of his D-Ark. The gadget had been acting up sporadically all day and he was trying to figure out why. His scrutiny of the digivice was interrupted by the phone ringing and Quatre picking it up with trepidation. The conversation was short and apparently to the point as the blond hung up and ordered all the Preventers present to go and put their uniforms on. A pointed look in his direction told Takato that the order included him as well. Unquestioning he did as told, disregarding the puzzled looks the two civilian boys were shooting at him. He joined the boys in the foyer while clipping his card holster to his belt and slipping his goggles over his head. He barely glanced at the two boys waiting impatiently next to the other Preventers, merely passed them as he headed out the door to his waiting bike. Everyone else scrambled to pile into the two waiting cars and chased after the speeding motorcycle.

They arrived barely a few seconds behind the goggle headed teen who was waiting for them impatiently next to Noin. The woman was staring at the boy warily, his current attitude far too out of the ordinary to be just a tantrum.

"So Noin, what's going on?"

"We don't know. Some civilians in the park have reported seeing a strange fog forming in one of the fields. From what we've seen so far it's in the shape of a dome and it's keeping its shape pretty uniformly. Another thing we discovered is that electronic machinery goes haywire in close proximity to the phenomena."

"Has anyone tried to go into the thing yet?"

"Yes but they haven't found anything beyond what we discovered from the outside. We're waiting for a climatologist to come and do readings on the area. We also… hey Takato where do you think you're going?"

Noin changed her words as she noticed that the Tamer had broken from their group, his D-Ark in hand with a sort of transparent compass hovering above the gadget. The digital arrow was uncannily pointed towards the phenomena. The Tamer was headed in that direction, one hand raised to pull his goggles down over his eyes. The Pilots hurried to follow after the teen, while Noin tried to stop Hikaru and Stefan from going as well. Hikaru slipped right out of her reach and he managed to tug the blond out of her grip as he did so. They rejoined the Preventer part of their group just as Takato turned and glared at them seriously.

"I can't stop you from following me in there but if you're gonna then put eye protection on and stay close to me."

The older men scrambled for their sunglasses even if it was getting towards dusk, Stefan had his eye glasses and Hikaru nicked Takato's sunglasses for his own use. They barely heard Noin yell at them as they plunged into the thick fog of the Bio-Field after the Tamer. She watched horrified as the phenomena started to pulse, first at a slow pace then quicker and quicker until in a flash of light the fog and the humans inside where gone.

Takato ignored the weightless feeling of being inside a Bio-Field, keeping an eye around him for any potential attacks and on his family. There was a flash of light and the feeling of something slamming into him before he felt himself black out.

He came to, face pressed against the fresh grass of late summer, keeping his eyes closed in case that he would hate the place he now found himself in. There was no denying that they were no longer in the richer part of the Sanq City. The noises around them had changed too much to be a mere skip in time. His senses were telling him there was only one person standing nearby and that it wasn't Miss Noin.

"Oh, my god, Takato?"

That voice forced the Tamer to open his eyes finally and push himself into a sitting position to better see the person he hoped it really was. Yamaki was looking at him in wonder, mouth gaping and looking like he was going to rush at him.

"Yamaki… I guess that means that I'm finally home. Oh crap, guys wake up!"

The blond government official froze as he finally took better notice of the seven other males scattered around Takato. The five eldest all wore the same uniform, with different ranks, as the boy did. They all had guns holstered at their hips, including the Tamer; one even had a Katana strapped to his belt. The other two were males of the same ages as Takato. One was, clearly, a Japanese youth but with one arm a prosthetic. The artificial arm was too new and shiny for the deformity to be an incident of birth. The other boy was of European descent and he would have thought whole of body if it weren't for the horrible scars running across the totality of the right side of his face. He was hoping that the men had nothing to do with the injuries the two civilians had incurred but from the way Takato was shaking the man with the longest hair he'd ever seen; his hope was justified.

"Oi Duo! Wake up, Heero's going to eat the last of the cake!"

The Tamer's ploy may have worked at another time but the 02 Pilot was out like a light. The jab at Duo's well known sweet tooth served to rouse Wufei and Trowa on the other hand. The two men watched the unknown person near them slyly before turning to their younger teammate.

"Alright Brat, what the Hell happened?"

"You'll have to wait for the others to wake up first Wufei. That and can you get us to Hypnos Yamaki? We'll be safer there."

"Of course Matsuki, I've already messaged Riley to send a van to the park. I'll call your parents for them to meet us there along with the rest of the Tamers."

Trowa and Wufei shared a look while the man that Takato knew as Yamaki got on the phone to make his calls. The first call was answered by a person name Mai and was rather brief. The second they listened to was to a Lee residence. They don't know why that place was called as Takato got them to help straighten the others into comfortable positions.

Diner at the Lee home had been the same that night as the first time that she'd spent the meal time with them after Takato had disappeared. They had eaten the meal prepared by Mrs. Lee and her eldest daughter, then retired to the living room to reminisce about their MIA friend. Rika had just curled up in the loveseat with Suzie when they were interrupted by a phone call. Janyu answered, his face going from neutral to a puzzled expression as he listened and responded to questions. He hung up after five minutes calling for her and Jenrya to come along. By the time they got to their destination both Tamers were apprehensive. Janyu led them up to the elevators that ended at Hypnos Center, not answering any of their questions. They entered the central hub only to find that the Matsuki's were already there with Kenta and Kazu. The only important Tamers missing now were Ryo and Jerri. Both Tamers took a seat next to the Matsuki's and watched as Janyu went to talk to Riley. Fifteen minutes after they got there, Ryo stalked in followed by Jerri. The Digimon Queen was starting to get impatient when Yamaki decided to show up. Following him were some men with stretchers that contained five unconscious bodies followed by two more men in strange uniforms and last but not least a person that they all recognized.

Rika couldn't help but stare at Takato. He had been shorter than her at thirteen but now was a good five inches taller than her. He'd also filled out quite nicely in the muscle department making the olive green uniform fit to his body well. Cute had been a word that some girls would have used to describe him five years ago, now there was something in his stance that made that statement obsolete. He stood straighter than as a pre-teen with more confidence and an unconscious grace that put some gutter worthy thoughts in her head. She blushed when he caught sight of her and smiled at her in greeting. His eyes saw everyone else briefly before landing onto his parents and tearing up. Mai had her hands covering her mouth, tears running down her cheeks while Mr. Matsuki held her shoulders also crying."

"Mom, Dad, I'm back!"

Takato ran hurried to his parents and threw his arms around the both of them in a big bear hug. The two adults started to babble things at their son, ignoring the tamers that were staring and the two unknown men who were watching them with intense scrutiny. They focused so much on their little bit of heaven that they never noticed as the five sleepers started waking up one by one. Finally Takato pulled out of the hug to greet the rest of the Tamers and saw that his brother was fully awake now.

"Hey Mom, Dad, there's someone you need to meet. Duo, come here."

Duo got off the stretcher he'd been sitting on as he waited for his little brother to remember about him. He fixed his uniform coat by pulling on the bottom hem and approached his family slowly.

"Mom, Dad, this is Duo Maxwell; my older brother."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Mrs. Matsuki stared at the young man her Takato had just introduced to them as his older brother. Ignoring the gun at his belt like she'd done for her youngest; she examined him. Blue-violet eyes looked back at her from behind thick chocolate bangs. Standing next to Takato he was only an inch taller but the resemblance between the two was the only thing that proved his claim to blood relation. She couldn't believe that after twenty one years of disappearance that her eldest was returned to her at the same time as her precious baby. It was too much for her as she crumbled into her husband's waiting arms in a dead faint.

"Uh, is Mom going to be alright?"

Mr. Matsuki tried to look nonchalant as he brought his wife to one of the stretchers to lay her down. He hadn't missed the weapons on all the uniformed men anymore than he'd missed the gun at his second child's belt. He was only a baker but even he could see that all six were far too comfortable with the things to be only an intimidation factor.

"She should be fine after a time; Duo, was it?"

Duo nodded, noticing that his father seemed to be weary of them, specially him and Takato. He could sort of understand the feeling. It wasn't everyday that your two missing sons returned, both carrying weaponry they shouldn't be allowed to use at their current age.

"I think it's about time you explained a few things Takato. Like where you've been for the last five years."

"Sigh, fine but you might want to sit down for this. Dad, remember when you and Mom told me about my missing big brother?"

"Yes, you said you needed to go and think about it. You went to the park and the Shelter or so I assumed."

"I did. I stayed there almost an hour before I noticed a glow coming from the tunnel Guilmon had dug out six years ago. I crawled down to check it out. There wasn't supposed to be anything down there since Yamaki and the Makers had shut down the Gate. I found a portal in the tunnel. In my excitement I immediately messaged Jen and Rika then stuck my hand in. I never figured that the thing would pull me in and send me to the Digital World. I landed pretty much where we did when we went there with the Digimon. A few minutes after I got there I was attacked by a bunch of Virals led by a Devimon. When I woke up after I lost consciousness, I was in the hospital with Duo sitting at my bedside. He and Heero found me in one of Sanq's parks."

At the mention of another person in his story Takato waved towards that person who merely nodded in acknowledgement.

"Digimon don't exist in that dimension so when Doctor Winner and her staff analyzed the fragments found in my wounds they couldn't identify the materials. They gave up on that but the Doc had her team id my DNA. It took them a week before they finally found a single match to my genetics. That match was Duo."

"You can imagine my surprise when I was told the kid I'd found by accident was my little brother. It was even worse when the Doc looked into the Registry and realized that I was the only other person with that type of DNA chain. That should have been impossible. The Registry is well over a hundred years old and everyone is added on as soon as they're born. Test tube babies and clones have to come from somewhere so even they're registered or have a match in the database. I didn't have one at all when I was registered by the orphanage of L2; not to my parents and not even to myself. They never clued in that something was wrong at that time, they had bigger things to worry about. The Doc even said that it was weird that Takato wasn't even registered yet at 13."

"So he came and told me who he was after Doctor Winner informed him. Quatre suggested that the boys move in with him so the four of them could help Duo take care of me and make it easier to keep an eye on me. They had their suspicions that I wasn't telling them everything and were afraid that the psycho who'd attacked me was still after me. So Wufei got to teach me self-defense while the others tutored me in all the subjects I was sorely behind in. I eventually found out that the five of them were the famous Gundam Pilots who had fought to bring peace between the Earth Sphere and the Space Colonies two and a half years previous."

The other Pilots stood or waved as their names were said, Trowa being the only one left unnamed. He stood, towering over most of the people present.

"Heero said that Takato found our Mobil Suit simulation centre and used one of the consoles to 'play' some of the simulations. His scores were high enough that Heero approached us with the suggestion that we train him. At first it was just as a kind of assistant but Takato was like a sponge, learning everything we showed him in remarkable time. If it ever came to it, he would have been able to take his place as a Gundam Pilot. His first mission was to go and help Heero save Duo at 13 years old. He's been helping us ever since."

"How can you teach a child how to kill Mr. …?"

"Trowa Barton, the same as adults do in dire times Mr. Matsuki. Some of us were younger than Takato was when we started our training to be Gundam Pilots. I was a mercenary Mobil Suit Pilot at 10 years of age. Heero was an assassin's apprentice at 5. Duo was a street rat and a thief most of his early childhood. None of us as had it easy."

Trowa retook his seat his bit said and done with. Takato chuckled nervously as the taller man fixed him with a cyclopean stare, waiting for the Tamer to continue with his story.

"Right, so I got caught up education wise and was sent to St-Gabriel's Academy where I met Stefan and Hikaru. We stayed there 3 years before we transferred to a public school to be with another friend of ours. During that time a lot of strange things were happening all over the internet and the real world. The Preventers, the organization we belong to, was dispatched to round up all the rebels and potential terrorists that were popping up on Earth and the Colonies. Throughout our investigations we found nothing conclusive as to the identity of the mastermind behind the terrorists or the internet thefts. Even as I was recreating the Digimon Card game, it never occurred to me that my landing in Sanq from the Digital world and our current troubles were connected. Stefan lost his parents and eye without a suspect being found. The Mizuno's were murdered but Hikaru managed to keep a hold of a clue for us."

"Wufei and I couldn't bring ourselves to believe the gold ring Hikaru had dropped when he lost consciousness really did belong to a Gatomon like Takato was trying to tell us. He'd never told us how or who hurt him enough as to send him to the hospital. After the recent Mizuno murders he just clammed up. Nothing we did as Preventers or Gundam Pilots was leading us to find any more evidence and we couldn't bring theories to our Commanding Officer. We didn't know what that fog was when we got called in but Takato jus went straight for it. Of course we followed, blacked out and woke up here."

Everyone was quiet as they tried to digest their newly received knowledge. The Tamers weren't sure what to make of Takato's military training. They, like the adults, couldn't understand the need for the Preventers Organization. War had not touched any of them making them ignorant of the pain of it. But it was apparent that his journey to this other dimension had not only reunited a family but made the klutzy former Tamer into a more commanding presence. With the uniform jacket taken off it was apparent that Takato had muscles without looking like a hulking body-builder. There seemed to be an instinctive awareness surrounding him as well; his eyes roaming the room unless he was talking directly to someone.

Ryo couldn't begrudge the Matsuki's Takato's return but he couldn't help but feel jealous at the attention the former Goggle-head was getting. Before he joined the group Takato had been the unofficial leader of the gang, being the unifying key that kept the different personalities together. After the teen had vanished Rika and Jenrya were too distraught to think much about their little group. The blond had stepped up to take Takato's place as leader and he liked the pseudo power it gave him. He knew it wasn't his place and that too much power could go to someone's head, he couldn't help it though. The fact that the beautiful Digimon Queen had eyes only for the returning hero made the green beast of envy raising its ugly head even harder to ignore. He glared at the blond staring at him with a sad look on his face, getting up from his chair.

"Hate to cut your explanation short Takato but we've got school tomorrow and it's getting late. We'll meet up in the park later this week. Later."

He walked past the newcomers without so much as a glance, knowing he was being rude, and didn't bother to check if any other Tamers were following. He knew Jerri would leave too; she had quite a ways to go before reaching her home. Kazu and Kenta would stay just a bit longer since they lived closer but would still take their leave shortly, more from Kenta forcing the issue with the other boy than anything else. Jenrya would leave whenever his father did seeing as the older man had been the one to drive his son in. Rika didn't care much for school and would take this as an excuse to skip again; unless of course the Goggle-head suggested otherwise. He clenched a fist, throwing the heavy lab door open and stalking out, hearing Jerri saying farewell. Afraid of betraying his abnormal feelings to anyone else he refused to wait for the female Tamer, taking the stairwell instead of the elevator.

Mai woke up on the stretcher and blinked trying to remember why she'd lost consciousness. The feeling of her second born back in her arms came to mind followed by the mind blowing revelation that her first had come home as well. She heard most of Takato's explanation from her stretcher and felt tears beading at the corner of her eyes. She waited until Ryo and Jerri had left before sitting up slowly. From where she was she could see a blond whisper to a tall brunette, a hand over his heart and a frown on his face, his eyes locked on the only exit to the place. She frowned in turn, not sure who he seemed to disapprove of. Jerri was a good girl who came by the bakery often to help out. Ryo was the replacement leader for her son's group of friends. He'd done a good job of it until now.

"Mom, are you alright?"

She turned to look at Takato and smiled at him. He had an anxious look on his face as if worried she'd faint again.

"I'm fine Takato."

Looking past her youngest she found her oldest who was wringing the tassel of his braid in a nervous gesture. She stood, walked over to him and threw her arms up around his shoulders to pull him into a hug. He stood there stunned for a second before returning the gesture with gusto. Duo clung to his mother with all he had, childhood insecurities coming up to the surface from where he'd buried them in his subconscious. His tears surprised Mr. Matsuki into pulling the two into a group hug, one of Duo's arms sneaking around to cling to him too. He was an adult who had lived most of his life independently. Even as Sister Helen and Father Maxwell had taken the place of family for a short time, he had yearned for the real thing. Discovering that his parents hadn't abandoned him when he found Takato had lifted that particular fear. Now, trapped between his parents, his fear of rejection was slowly leaking away with his tears. He felt Takato join in but didn't move. The younger covered him and their mother helping their father in binding them all together.

"I hate to cut the family time short but what are we going to do now? We don't have any identities here and working adults into the system is harder than for a child."

"Leave that to me and Hypnos. We'll have your ID's done and as close as your backgrounds as possible. It won't be possible to place you with any military background but there are a lot of private security forces out there."

"That would be very helpful Yamaki-san. If you need help with anything computer related; Heero is the best person to talk to."

Yamaki motioned for Heero to join him at a computer station as the others approached the Matsuki's to introduce them-selves better.

Takato, Hikaru and Stefan stood outside the door to the senior classroom in the local high school. Mrs. Matsuki had insisted that the three boys be enrolled regardless of the level of education they had received in Sanq. Her reasoning was that attending classes would aid the boys in connecting with their age group and allow Takato to reconnect with his old friends. They weren't wearing uniforms yet since they had been told to come even if they hadn't arrived. Takato wondered idly who his new homeroom teacher would be. Jenrya had mentioned that Kenta, Kazu and himself had this class together without saying who supposedly ruled this dungeon. Hikaru stopped whispering to Stefan as the front door of the classroom was slid open making Takato's jaw drop in surprise.

"Asagi-sensai! I didn't know you were a high school teacher."

"Oh Takato, you're back!"

The teen didn't have time to respond before he found himself being suffocated by his former elementary school teacher's arms. The other two snickered at his misfortune, watching him struggle to catch a breath and ward off the enthusiastic woman. Finally just as Takato had managed to work an arm between his teacher and himself she switched gears, pulling him away from her and shaking the living daylights out of him by the shoulders.

"What the Hell were you thinking going near anything you didn't know anything about? Don't you have any idea how worried you made everyone? Well I hope you learned your lesson this time around because I'll follow and beat the tar out of you if you do that again!"

She finished her tirade with a final shake and a return of her crushing hug. Unsteady from the shaking Takato landed face first into the woman's bosom, too dizzy to make even a token protest at his current situation. Asagi-sensai belatedly realized just what her student's face was pressed to and pushed him away again in embarrassment. Takato staggered back, finding firm ground by using Stefan as crutch. The taller boy managed to swallow the rest of his laughter to give his friend a helping hand, sending their remaining third an exasperated glance. Hikaru could only shrug as Asagi-sensai tamed her blush and addressed the three of them.

"It's good to have you back Takato and welcome to our school you two. Matsuki-san mentioned to the school that the three of you might be ahead in the curriculum in most subjects so I won't penalize you if you do some quiet reading during the lessons where you're ahead. Be sure to do your homework and we won't have any problems. Are we understood?"

"Yes Asagi-sensai!"

"Good, now let's get you boys inside and introduced."

Asagi-sensai led the way into her classroom, the three boys stopping in front of the black board where their names had been written before she came to get them.

"Now class I'm sure that most of you will remember Matsuki-kun from elementary but for those of you who don't: he's returned from being away for the last five years. Mizuno-kun and Wagner-kun are joining us for their last year from overseas so be kind to them."

The students in the class fidgeted slightly because of the standing trio. For those that were ignorant of the arrival of the new classmates, the sight before them was more than a bit intimidating. Those who had known Takato as a child would never had pictured him with the amount of scarring that was visible on his person. He'd chosen this particular outfit just for this reason. The sleeveless hood, t-shirt and short combo revealed a lot of his past trouble showing that pity was unneeded and unwanted. The same went for Hikaru and his sleeveless tee that showed off his new prosthetic arm. There simply was no hiding Stefan's face so he tried to act like it didn't bother him anymore. Whispers broke out amongst the student body yet no one cringed when one of the boys were made to sit next to them.

At lunchtime the former Digimon Tamers plus two sat under a tree in the courtyard to eat their meals and discuss events over the five years that Takato was gone.

"So, anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Not really, there were several power spikes over the years but nothing came of it. Yamaki said that the most recent besides the one that brought you home was about three months ago."

"What, that's about the time that Hikaru's family got attacked by a BlackGatomon! When was the bigger spike before that?"

Jenrya paused to think, hand going to his chin in a deliberation pose.

"About a year before that I think. There were several smaller ones in between but that one caught our attention the most because it was the first of that magnitude. What's wrong?"

"Around that time Stefan survived his parents' murder. Three months ago the same happened to Hikaru. Both families were business owners that dealt with electronic anti-viruses and counter measures. Oh my God! Quatre's sisters! Some of them are computer programmers and technicians! What if the Digimon go after them?"

"Don't worry Takato; the Maguanacs will make sure that they are safe. Besides with them being Winners the Digimon will a harder time getting to them. Nobody in their right mind would go after a Winner without a very good plan. Quatre made sure of that; ages ago."

"I'm sure you're right Stefan but I'm still going to worry."

"But what are we going to do? The Virals are in the Digital World and attacking a world we have no access to. How are we supposed to defend everyone without the Digimon and the threat being inaccessible?"

"I suppose that Yamaki already contacted the Monster Makers. He'll want to know just how the Bio-field worked even after that program your Dad implemented all those years ago. The guys might want to help out with that. They know their own world better than anybody here."

"I hope they can get this taken care of before it escalates even more. I wouldn't want to have to deal with an Evil Digimon without Terriermon. Annoying as he is, he is useful."

"I miss MarineAngemon."

"Guardromon must be rusting somewhere out there."

The two normal boys couldn't understand the sudden glum atmosphere that hit the four former Tamers so decided to keep quiet.

Japanese

Sensai: literally means 'one who came first' is used for teachers and doctors


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Rika barely managed to keep the annoyed growl in her throat from being audible. In the past, her classmates had taken perverse pleasure in tormenting her about her various faults, whether they were real or imagined. Their usual subject of choice was her frequent absences from school, but today they had decided to touch on a subject that hurt more than she would like to admit.  
She had never told anyone about the Tamers at her school, figuring that if they watched TV like everyone else, they should already know about the D-Reaper incident and, therefore, her role in it. Contrary to her expectations however, the Débutantes attending her school had had more 'important' things to worry about than World News.

Such as her supposed lack of friends over the last five years, this had been the main piece of ammunition for the person responsible for her torment. That ammunition had recently evolved into an interest in her lack of a love life; not that she would ever broadcast such a thing for fear of her mother's paparazzi. This latest salvo against her was started by posters for the upcoming Open Fall Ball the school was hosting. She never attended these things, finding them too boring to warrant her interest and going by one's self was not only embarrassing, but left her feeling even lonelier. After several minutes of taunting, the witch of a teen paused to catch her breath, allowing Rika to slam her hands down on her desk, stand up and lean into her face.

"Will you shut up Mina? You and your little pose know NOTHING about me, so don't pretend you can predict what I'll do! I'll be at that stupid Ball and I promise you, I WILL have a date."

Ignoring the spazzing student and stuttering teacher the Digimon Queen left the classroom just as the end of day bell rang to signal their release. She managed to reach her locker before the halls got too crowded but before she could do anything, someone slammed the door shut narrowly missing her fingers in it.

"You're a load of hot air Nonaka! No boy in his right mind would want to be seen with you. You may have looks comparable to your Mother's but your attitude stinks!"

Rika ignored her as she had before, putting her books in the locker before locking it shut and heading towards the exit, leaving the girl there. Mina huffed and stalked after her retreating classmate, following her all the way to the entry gates where Rika had paused momentarily to answer her suddenly ringing cell phone. Her mood lightened when she heard the sound of Takato's voice coming through the speakers.

'Rika, I'm coming to pick you up from school. I'll be there in a few minutes.'

"I'll be waiting."

"Who was that Nonaka? Your Mommy wondering where you are?"

"Not that it's any of your business but that was my ride, he should be here soon."

"He? Let me guess, he's an old pervert who gets his jollies off from young desperate school girls?"

"You'll see soon enough."

Rika leaned up against the school gate to wait for her ride and closed her eyes, once again ignoring the girl next to her. Mina huffed at being ignored again, crossing her arms over her chest. They had waited maybe ten minutes when the roar of a motorcycle could just be heard in the distance. The sound got louder and louder until the bike made an appearance around the corner of the street.

The students walking along either side of the road stopped to follow the machine and its rider with their eyes as it passed. Mina could see why as it approached her position by the gate and she felt herself start drooling. The rider, whose face was obscured by the helmet and goggles, had a ripped body and was showing it off with a tight, sleeveless shirt and form fitting tight jeans. He brought his American Harley to a stop in front of her and she straightened in hopes he would talk to her. She waited with baited breath as he reached for the chin strap of his helmet and unfastened it, allowing him to remove the contraption from his head. Shaggy brunette hair was revealed along a very pleasant face. His eyes were closed until he turned to where she and Nonaka were standing. When he opened them she felt her breath catch at the unusual colour of them. She was rudely broken from her speculation when Nonaka bumped her on purpose as she walked forward.

Takato noticed the girl looking at him and couldn't help but feel like a piece of cooked meat and he was her last meal. Although he smirked when Rika bumped into her as she came to greet him and couldn't help the smugness that encroached on it when the girl realized he was here for Rika.

"Hey Takato, what's up with the bike?"

"Eh, I felt like going for a bike ride so borrowed Nii-san's new Harley. He said he'd look into getting one for me soon. You ready to go? We're meeting Jen at the park."

"Yeah, um…Takato? I was wondering…"

"Oi! Punk Queen! Why don't you introduce me? This nice man might want to make a better acquaintance."

Rika sighed as she turned to her irritating classmate

"Shut up Mina, Takato wouldn't be interested in the Bitch Queen so buzz off."

Mina saw Takato look incredulously between her and Nonaka so shoved the red head to the side and presented her hand to him.

"Hi there, my name is Numa Mina and you?"

"Matsuki Takato."

"Really, well, what's a handsome guy like you doing hanging around with a witch like Nonaka? You could do so much better."

"I wouldn't know about that. Rika may be rough around the edges but at least I can trust her to watch my back. You were saying Rika?"

"It's nothing; it can wait until we get to the park. Later Mina, have fun seething."

Rika waved at the bully saucily while cocking her head to the side coyly, making sure she made a show of wrapping her arms around Takato's waist to keep her steady as she sat behind him on the bike's seat. The boy in question ignored her odd behaviour in favour of replacing his helmet and starting the machine up. He didn't like the way the other girl was starting to look like a ripe tomato or how she was clenching her fists hard enough to turn the skin of her knuckles white. After checking that Rika was seated properly he nodded shortly at the other girl before driving away.

Rika held on to Takato tightly, more from enjoying the feel of his body pressed against hers than the fear of falling off. His back was warm through the shirt he was wearing and his abs rippled under her hands as he shifted to manoeuvre the bike. The scenery beyond his shoulder blurred into a mess of colours so she turned her head to hide her face into his back. She felt it when Takato slowed down to turn into the park's parking lot and when he came to a stop in a space. She didn't move as he shut the machine off or as he removed his head gear.

"Rika, you wanted to ask something back at the school?"

She squeezed his waist and took a steadying breath to calm her nerves before replying.

"My school is hosting a Fall Ball in a month and I was thinking of actually attending this year. Will you go with me?"

Takato sighed inwardly, slightly distracted by the close contact between his back and Rika's chest. A blush blossomed on his face as she fidgeted insecurely at his silence. He took one of her hands in his, twining their fingers together and turning to face her.

"I'd be more than happy to go to the ball with you Rika."

Their faces drew together and were mere centimetres apart when both of their Digivices decided to sound an alarm, killing the mood. They tore apart, Takato's D-Ark already unhooked from his belt and the digi-compass pointing towards the shelter. He took off running with Rika hot on his heels, ignoring the shouts of people they scared as they went. They burst through the thin brush around the path to the shelter only to find the danger was gone and Jen cradling a familiar red head in his arms.

"Marie!"

Jen looked up startled at Takato and Rika's abrupt appearance and the Hazard Tamer's shout. His hands slipped from the rag pressed to her stomach. Scrambling, he moved his hands back to the wound, applying more pressure.

"Takato, call an ambulance this girl is bleeding too much!"

The Goggle-head ignored him, knowing Rika would do that for him as he threw himself on his knees next to the two and called Marie's name again. She stirred this time, recognizing him almost instantly.

"…kato… Momma, she's… gone…"

Takato couldn't help but wince as he heard that, but realised for the time being he could do nothing else but keep her awake and make her comfortable until help arrived.

"I'm sorry Marie, but you don't have to worry, you're safe here I promise. The guys are all here and we won't let anything happen to you again, ok? Stay with us Marie."

They could hear the sirens of the ambulance rushing up the larger paths close to the shelter, the clatter of the paramedics pulling the gurney out of the vehicle and their approach up the path towards them. It took everything in Takato to let go of Mariemaia's hand and let the medics do their thing. He felt Rika slip her hand his as he watched the men roll a stabilized red head carefully down the little hill separating their path in from the shelter.

"She'll be okay Takato, you'll see."

"I hope so; I really hope so."

Beta's note-Hey guys, I'm Yu here acting as Beta. I got this a couple of weeks ago, so sorry for the delay. Life has been a bit busy since I finished Uni. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and if there's anything I missed, let me know.  
Chapter 10 is currently getting worked on and hopefully that will be up not too long after this. Apologies in advance for any delays on this on my end.

AN, as you have all undoubtedly noticed I now have a beta. Egad…I just realized it's been almost a year since I last uploaded anything on the story. I'm sorry, please put down the rotten veggies. Anyway, I'm Yu is currently working on chapter 10 and hopefully you guys won't have to wait another year for 11. I'm pretty sure I'm Yu will remind me if I take too long with it.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Marie giggled quietly as she followed along with Rika and another girl that she had introduced as Jeri in the mall. It had been three weeks since she'd found herself collapsing on top of the boy Takato had introduced as Jenrya while she was in the hospital. She blushed at the thought of the young man, but her mood worsened as she remembered what had led to that situation, and all of the pain it caused her.

**Flashback**

_She had been doing homework in her room when a crash from the living room alerted her to trouble. She quickly hid behind the bed, just in case someone came her way. Marie knew that Lady Une could take care of herself, but weirder and weirder things had been happening since the boys had vanished in that fog. She stayed in her hiding spot, waiting for the noise to stop and for Lady Une to come make sure she was alright. Five minutes passed before she realized Une wasn't coming._

Starting to panic, she hurried out of her room. She could see from the hallway that things hadn't gone well for whoever decided to attack this place, and there was no sign of Lady Une yet. Turning the corner of the couch she tripped over some debris on the floor and fell to her knees. It was from that position that she found Lady Une with a look of horror on her face, her throat ripped out and a large puddle of blood under her body. Marie felt nausea claw at her, tears sting at her eyes. A crunching noise from the other side of the sofa made her freeze in place. It was followed by a female chuckle.

_"Look what the cat dragged in; another little mouse to play with!"_

_Marie looked round, expecting to see a pair of human legs. Instead she came face to face with a smirking BlackGatomon. Her eyes widened in shock as she recognised the being before her, causing the digimon's smirk to widen._

_"And look, the little Mouse knows what I am already. Did the goodie-two-shoes Tamer tell you? Well it looks like he's not here any more, so what are you going to do Little Mouse?"_

_It raised a bloodied glove covered paw, its smile widening as it slashed it down. Marie screamed as her instincts forced her legs to move her out of the way. The BlackGatomon's claws ripped through her shirt and cut four deep furrows in her skin. It laughed, stalking slowly to catch up with her prey.__  
Marie desperately looked around, trying to find something-anything to protect herself with, all the while wishing that Takato hadn't left her behind. Her hand brushed up against the toy d-reader, her fingers clutching at it confusedly._

_'Please whatever deity is up there; help me!'_

_The gadget in her hand suddenly turned scorching hot, almost causing her to drop it, then cooled abruptly. The wall behind her disappeared into fog, causing BlackGatomon to freeze in its tracks, shock apparent on its face._

_"A Bio-field? Why is that here?"_

_Marie's brain had shut down at this point, her body moving on its own. She stood and ran straight for the Bio-field, never realizing that she went right through where the house wall should have been. Next thing she knew Takato was there helping her living pillow to staunch the blood pouring out of her. She'd only managed to catch a glimpse of the other boy but his worried face hadn't left her mind since._

**Flashback Ends**

She quickly shook her head and turned her attention to Rika, who had been trying to grab her attention for a few minutes, a look of concern on her face.

"Marie, is something wrong? Does it hurt?"

Marie smiled slightly at the concern that was emanating from the red head.

"I'm sorry, I just had a flashback. I'm OK though."

"Do you still want to help us shop? We can call one of the boys to take you home."

"I'll be fine. I can still keep going."

"If you get tired just tell us, we'll take a break somewhere."

"I will."

Rika grabbed Marie's hand and pulled her to where Jeri was waiting for them in front of a dress shop. The three entered, Rika shivering as she did so.

"I never thought I would willingly step into one of these places. Can we hurry so I don't get the Snob Disease?"

Jeri shared a giggle with Marie, as the former Tamer went up to a stand of dresses that were pink and very girlish.

"What about this one Rika? Think Takato would like it" Rika levelled a mild glare at the girl in response.

"Ha-ha, very funny Jeri. Find something else please."

The girls went through the store looking for dresses Rika to try on. The sale's clerk brought all their choices to a change room and helped Rika put each one of them on. One dress was black with a high neck and long sleeves.

"I feel like I'm going to a ritzy funeral."

"Yeah, that's not the one. Try this one next!"

The next one made the two girls wince and shake their heads in denial. Rika shifted uncomfortably trying to cover the part of her chest that _wasn't_ covered by cloth.

"If Takato was any kind of red blooded male he'd love that dress. Then again, so would every other guy at the prom." Rika immediately returned to the dressing room to try on the last dress that had been picked for her.

The last dress was the keeper. It was both sexy and not too revealing, the halter neck showing just enough cleavage to be attractive, the back laced to leave it open and tantalizing. The dark blue fabric clung to all the right curves, flaring into a trumpet skirt at the bottom.

"What kind of accessories do you think we should get?"

Looking down at the bottom of the skirt and the amount of fabric pooling on the floor, Jeri hummed in thought.

"Obviously she's going to need a pair of decently high heels. The dress is meant to trail a bit but not that much. I'm thinking of something silver, or are you planning on wearing Takato's bracelet with that?"

Rika shook her head in a negative response as Jeri skipped over to the jewellery towers and browsed before coming back with a set of silver delicate filigree adorned with solitaire clear stones. Rika held her breath as the necklace was put over her head, the bracelet on her wrist and the earrings dangled next to her ear. Her hair got pulled up just as she turned to look in a full length mirror. Her breath hitched slightly at what she saw. She could barely recognize her-self in that getup, the woman in front of her too far removed from her own expectations.

"Takato is going to faint Rika! And that girl you were talking about will die of embarrassment when she sees you."

The eldest red head finally let a giggle escape her as it finally dawned on her that she was the one that looked amazing and not a figment of her imagination.

**(SCENE CHANGE)**

Jenrya pulled Suzie along behind him, a gut feeling causing him to move a bit faster. A sudden noise down the deserted street made him draw her closer. Things were going weird ever since Takato had come home followed by those other men. The news was full of thefts and murders that didn't make much sense. The returned Tamer speculated that the digital problems that had plagued the ESUN had somehow followed them here. After seeing the damage done to the four other teens he didn't want to chance his little sister getting hurt. Another nearby noise caused him to a stop, Suzie clutched to his body. The noise maker materialized before them; gracefully landing on fur covered paws. Jenrya sucked in a gasp, refusing to show his fear in front of the creature Takato said attacked his friends.

"My, oh my, it's the Bunny Tamers; this will be fun!"

The black fur-ball that was the BlackGatomon launched her-self at the taller teen, a manic grin on her face. Jen pushed the two of them out of the way, releasing Suzie to face up against the cat better.

"I don't know what you Virals are up to but I won't let you hurt my sister!"

"What makes you think you can take me Human? Without your Digimon partners you are pathetically weak!"

Jen growled and threw a low kick at the BlackGatomon's head. The cat snickered as it avoided the attack with ease. Forcing himself to calm down, Henry turned his failed assault into a sweep kick. It worked only so far as to make the digital cat backflip away from him. Getting anxious he lunged for her throat in an attempt to immobilize her. The viral digimon merely jumped over his head and used his back as a trampoline vaulting towards to the cowering Suzie. Jenrya cursed at his stupidity, turning to catch the feline before it reached his sister. He barely missed the tip of its tail and landed, face first on the ground with a loud oomph. The Digimon pounced for the human girl only to be blocked by another white creature. The voice Jenrya heard was one he'd never been more grateful to hear

"Momentai Jen! I've got this; Terrier Tornado!"

Terriermon pushed the black cat away just far enough that he could start his attack. Deciding to cut loses short it jumped out of the way and ran for the shadow.

"You haven't seen the last of me!"

Jenrya watched it run then turned to gape at his former partner.

"Terriermon, how are you here? The gate closed seven years ago!"

"Momentai, momentai; I'll explain everything when you get the old gang together at the park. Just one question, did you miss me?"

The teen chuckled and reached down to pick the dog-bunny up from the ground. Hugging the Digimon to his chest, he whispered in the long ears.

"You have no idea how much no matter how irritating you can get. Welcome home Terriermon; welcome home."

**Beta's note-FORGIVE ME! I'm sorry I took so long to get this done, I've just been busy with graduation, family holiday and full time work in recent months. Hopefully the next chapter's won't take so long to get done now.  
Hope you all enjoy it and again I'm sorry for the delay in getting this done Firesinger!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Takato rolled over and blindly reached over to his bed side table for his ringing cell phone. His fingers closed around the device after the third try, although his answer was little more than an inquiring grunt.

"Sorry for calling so late Takato but there's something you got to see at the park. Call Rika would you? I've got to call Kazu and Kenta."

"Sure Jen, I'll call her. I'll see you at the park."

The prone Tamer ended the call, dropping his tired head back unto the pillow. His door opened and a bleary eyed Duo poked his head in.

"Who was that and what's the emergency now?"

"Jen and he sounded more excited than bad. He wants to meet all the Tamers at the park. Can you give me a ride, I need to call Rika."

Duo did not look all too thrilled to be dragged out of bed, but he was hard pressed to say no to his little brother.

"Sure, but tell her to be ready in 15. It'll take us that long to get to her place. I'm glad we found you little bro but you sure as hell brought a lot of excitement with you."

"Love you too Duo."

The two boys grinned at each other before going to get ready. Takato dialed Rika's number while pulling a t-shirt over his head. Her phone clicked on and he cringed at her tone of voice.

"You better have a damn god reason for waking me up at this time of the night Goggle- head!"

"Sorry Rika, Jen wants to see us at the park, me'n Duo will be over in 15."

The girl grumbled, her phone disconnecting abruptly. The teen shook his head leaving to join his older brother at the car.

**(SCENE CHANGE)**

The Two Tamers and Duo arrived on the heels of Kenta, being the last ones to get to Guilmon's old shelter. Jen, Jeri, Kazu and Ryo were already there the others looking at the Chinese teen expectantly.

"Well now that everyone is here I'll show you why I called us together…"

Before anyone could say anything, an all too familiar voice piped up.

"Hey guys! Did you miss us?"

They all gaped as Terriermon jumped up from the trees and on to Jen's shoulder, a big grin on his face.

Everyone was stunned at the sight of the small rabbit Digimon. It was a few moments later before they finally took note of what he said, with Rika being the first to ask what he meant.

"Wait, us?"

"Takatomon!"

Takato barely registered the call before he was bowled over by a giant red blur. Duo immediately reached for his gun, but aborted the gesture when he realized no one else was alarmed by the large dinosaur type creature. In fact they were all preoccupied by their own Digimon. He noticed Jeri's sad expression as she watched the others, but it quickly turned curious as she looked at the blue and red creature that had walked up to her and tugged on her pants.

"Hey Jeri, why the long face; I'm right here."

"Electmon what..?"

"I was Leomon before. I came back for you."

Jeri's face lit up at the same time that her eyes gave up the water works. The little Digimon was scooped up and hugged within an inch of his digital life.

"There, there Jeri, I'm back and I'm not going anywhere."

While Duo was watching the joyful reunion, he failed to notice someone creep up to him. A gentle nudge pulled his attention down to his brother's partner.

"Why do you smell like Takatomon?"

"I'm his big brother Duo."

Guilmon tilted his head curiously at the response.

"Duomon? Why haven't I seen you before?"

"I'm not a mon, and I was gone when you met Takato the first time. Thank you for protecting him during his adventure back then."

The dinosaur merely smiled at the praise from his tamer's brother.

"That's what partners do Duomon!"

"Yeah, still thank you."

**(SCENE CHANGE)**

The tamers didn't manage to return until much later in the night after reuniting with their Digimon after so long, so it was with great reluctance that Takato dragged himself out of bed that morning to help his parents in the Bakery as he had been in recent days since his return. He couldn't help but smile as he noticed Guilmon curled up on the floor beside the bunk bed, as if it confirmed that he hadn't just been dreaming last night. He and Duo had managed to avoid waking their parents up when they arrived, their place being closer to the park, so he looking forward to seeing their reactions when they saw Guilmon again.

When he emerged into the kitchen several minutes later, he immediately started helping his dad prepare the next batch of bread as he greeted him good morning to the man's surprise. Shortly after putting the loaves in the oven, the smell of bread started spreading through the bakery. It wasn't long before the smell brought Guilmon down the stairs looking for food.

"Takatomon, I'm Hungry"

"I'll feed you shortly Guilmon," Takehiro automatically replied. It took a few seconds before what he said registered, and when it did his head whipped round so fast Takato could have sworn he heard his dad's neck crack.

"Guilmon!" His shout was loud enough to bring Mei out back to see what the shouting was about. Her reaction was almost identical to Takehiro, though she immediately turned to Takato afterwards.

"When did he get back?"

"Just last night and so did all of the other Digimon."

Takato's parents couldn't help but smile as they saw his expression. While he had seemed happy since his return, the joy in his eyes at having his best friend back was near impossible for them to miss. It was then Takehiro remembered about Duo's friends.

"When are you going to tell your friends about this Duo?"

Duo winced slightly at that. While the other pilots knew about Digimon in general, they hadn't actually _MET_ any. They would need to be introduced to Guilmon and the others soon before they accidentally think they're enemies and try to kill them.

"I'll try introducing Guilmon to Heero and the others tomorrow. I'd do it today, but someone has a prior engagement" he replied while giving a pointed look at his little brother. Takato looked confused for a moment before his eyes widened in realization as he remembered.

"Ah nuts, I forgot the dance was tonight!"

With that, Takato headed off to get his long list of chores done so he'd be ready for the dance with Rika later. Mei and Takehiro could only shake their heads in amusement.

"Even after not seeing him for several years, some things just never change."

**(SCENE CHANGE)**

Later that night, Renamon watched quietly from a dark corner as Jeri and the new girl, Marie, helped Rika get ready for a party she was attending. She had been surprised when the two girls had showed up a couple hours previous and ambushed the Digimon Queen with all kinds of beauty products. Now to her further amazement, her Tamer was being slipped into a very form fitting dress. Fitting her like a glove and further reinforcing the idea that her tamer was no longer a young pre-teen, but a young adult. With one last sweep of a cosmetic brush and the last piece of jewelry applied, the 2 girls stood back to see the end result of their work.

"Oh my god Rika, Takato will faint when he sees you! You are absolutely beautiful."

Rika couldn't help but numbly nod her head in agreement as she saw her reflection. She could scarcely believe that the woman in the mirror was actually herself!

There was a knock on her Shoji door and her mother came in with a box in hand.

"Here Rika, I think this will go well with your dress."

She opened the box revealing a delicate silver tiara, encrusted with several clear stones and a single medium sized blue sapphire.

"I wore this to the prom at my school and I figured you'd like it too. I'm so proud of you Rika."

"Thanks Mom.'

The older woman placed the tiara on her daughter's head, nestling it gently in Jeri's handiwork. Just as she was backing up a knock was heard from the front door.

"I'll go answer that, come along in at minute, ok?"

Rika nodded suddenly feeling very anxious. She had no idea what to expect when Takato would see her in her new getup. She heard both her mother and grandmother exclaim over her date so she steeled her-self and left her room. When she got to the entry hall she heard a gasp and looked up.

Takato was standing between her relatives and was gaping at her like a fish. The only things saving his head from a slapping was the clearly appreciative look in his eyes and the deep red blush creeping up his cheeks. She could feel her own cheeks heating up at his appearance too. He was wearing black dress pants, a crimson red button shirt and a black diner jacket. His hair looked a little messier than usual but that only added to his charm. She was snapped out her thoughts when Takato spoke up nervously.

"You look great Rika. I brought this for you."

He pulled out a corsage made of tiny blue and white flowers surrounding a cluster of purple orchids. Stepping up to him she noticed that it could either be tied to her wrist or pinned to her dress. She raised her hand to have the small bouquet fixed there only for him to get a mischievous look in his eyes. Taking her hand in his he bowed low over it and placed a kiss on the back.

"Would Milady accept this humble offering from this poor knave?"

Ignoring her mother's surprised glance at her giggling Rika cupped his face and pulled him up from his bow.

"This Lady would be most honored to receive a gift from her champion."

Giggling again she brought his face up to hers and kissed him lightly. The grin on his face went from mischievous to dopey in less than a second. Snapping out of it a minute later he wrapped the ribbon around her wrist, tying it in a smart bow.

"Our chariot awaits Milady."

"Bring her home safe Takato."

Offering his arm to his date he nodded to the two older ladies before leading her out of her house.

**(SCENE CHANGE)**

Rika let Takato help her out of his brother's shiny new fancy black car. The young man wished them both good luck and drove off once the door was closed. She looked around at the couples milling about the grounds outside the Hall. Mina was nowhere in sight but most of the girls present were shooting appreciative looks at her date. Takato acted totally oblivious to the glances in favor of wrapping her arm around his to escort her to the door. Once inside he led her to the dance hall where the people parted to let them in. Students started whispering to each other as they came through, everyone turning to gawk at them. As from the outside Takato paid it no mind, the attention flowing off of him like water off a duck. It was a far cry from the shy, clumsy pre-teen she had first met at the beginning. It wasn't long before several girls made their way to the couple and Rika groaned as she recognized Mina's toadies. Their eyes were wide and disbelieving not having expected for her to be this dressed up and have such a hot date.

"Oh my, gosh, Rika, you look so different! Who's your date?"

"Thank you, this is Matsuki Takato; an old friend of mine. Is Mina here yet?"

"No but she should be here soon."

Takato tugged at her arm gently. Receiving her attention he nodded towards the dance floor where a slow song was just starting. Blushing she nodded and let him lead her towards the middle of the floor. Grabbing her right hand he raised it to shoulder height and placed his left on her hip. Pushing gently on that hand he moved her in a gentle sway to the rhythm of the music. Her blush darkened at his touch. Trying to ignore it she put her left hand on his shoulder and did her best to follow his lead. She was too focused on him to notice Mina push her way through the people watching them and glare at her. Takato ignored her until the end of the song when he made Rika turn and face her antagonist.

"Well color me surprised Nonaka. I never thought that the ugly duckling could ever turn into a beautiful swan. Who would want to be seen with you any other way?"

"Rika is a far better person than you Numa-san. I'm hoping that you won't cause her problems."

Mina backed up with a sneer. Turning away she looked over her shoulder.

"Why would I do that? I've heard things about you Matsuki. I don't want anything to do with a murderer."

Her accusation sent the onlookers into a titter and made Takato frown.

"What do you mean? Where did you hear such a thing?"

"A little birdy told me that Gundams are to be avoided because they kill people and that you are a Gundam. Are you going to deny murder?"

"You have absolutely no idea just what you are talking about Numa-san. I'm not a Gundam. How could I be? I'm not made of metal. You might want to do a little bit of research before accusing anyone of murder. Erroneous accusations are also against the law so if you don't want me to sue you for libel, I suggest leave me and Rika alone."

"What would a chump like you know about the law?"

"Considering what my brothers and I have been doing for a living for the last five years? We know plenty. Choose your enemies wisely Numa; we are not people you want to cross lightly."

It took most of Rika's self- control to keep from launching herself at the other girl. She'd actually been enjoying the night until she appeared and while she wished to rub it in her face that she was there with-in her opinion-the best date, Mina had completely killed her good mood. Just where did she even here those rumors anyway? Sighing, she turned to Takato, who looked to be in a similar mood to her-self.

"Let's get out of here Takato, I don't feel like dancing anymore."

"Alright Rika, let me call Aniki then. I'm sure him or one of the others will come pick us up early."

He led her through the throng of people watching the drama unfold, the spectators parting to let them through. The young man found him-self frowning as one word was beginning to be repeated as they went. How the hell did they get Yakuza out of all of that? He forced the expression on his face into a neutral one and he ignored the whispers.

By the time Wufei's sleek silver Benz arrived speculations were running rampant about what kind of person would pick them up. The young man, dressed in his traditional white Chinese clothes got out of the car to open the door for the couple.

"Is everything alright? Duo said you two were cutting the dance short."

"I'll explain later at home, thank you for coming to get us."

"Anything for you Little Brother."

Takato helped Rika get into the car then joined her. For his part Wufei turned to level a glare at the assembled teens gawking at them. He forced him-self to ignore the words being whispered until he drove away from the hall.

"What does the Yakuza and the Triad has to do with anything?"

The teen cringed, letting his head thump against the headrest.

"Oh come on, really?! One of Rika's classmates accused me of being a murderer after she did some research on me-and bad research at that. They were talking about the yakuza when we left the hall. Seeing you in your outfit must have added fuel to the fire."

"Where did she get her information? You've been missing for the last five years?"

"I can't say for sure but it might be Digital in nature. She called me a Gundam. The only ones who know anything about that are the Tamer group and the Digimon."

"We'll get Quatre on this as soon as we get home. Rumors are going to be flying soon. It's going to be especially bad since most of these kids are rich kids."

Takato couldn't help but groan lightly as he rubbed his face while Rika looked between them slightly worried.

"We don't need this on top of everything else."

Rika leant into the young man and gave him a light hug, offering him comfort and reassurance.

"Don't worry Takato. Us Tamers won against the D-Reaper and Paricimon; we'll be able to handle whatever the Digital world decides to throw at us."

Takato couldn't keep himself from smiling lightly at this as he returned Rika's hug. She was right-after everything they'd been through when they were younger, in the end they were just dealing with rumors. Things couldn't get that bad, right?

**Beta's note-I'M SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!**

**I'm sorry I took so long in getting this checked over but between work, looking for another job as this one is almost over, money things, family stuff, distractions from other fics and lack of time, I ended up putting this off several times even though a good chunk was already done! Hopefully, the next chapters won't take as long.  
Again, I'm sorry for the delays on my part (hides in secret bunker from angry readers)**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Takato walked into class that Monday only to be greeted by a nervous silence. Stefan and Hikaru, who had gotten to the room before him, were looking peeved. Jen could only look on in exasperation at his fellow classmates while Takato finally decided to show his thoughts on the matter.

"Oh for God's sake, who should you believe!? Some rumors that spring up overnight or the person you've spent most of your childhood with? Grow up people-my brothers and I have a digital security business going. Not many people know about it yet."

The ticked off teen turned and left the room in a huff, slamming the door behind him. Most of the class just sat their stunned. While they'd known Takato in their younger years, they'd never seen him get angry like that. Stefan stopped Jen from following him; figuring that the Preventer-Tamer would want to be left alone right then. It didn't take long to note the guilty looks on the faces of everyone else in the room as they realized that Takato was right.

When Takato came back to the classroom an hour later he found him-self engulfed in a hug from his teacher. He looked up when she didn't let go right away to see the rest of the class crowded around them.

"We're sorry Takato. We shouldn't have taken those rumors seriously."

Various similar sentiments were being voice by the majority of his classmates, the shyer ones quietly showing their support from the fringe of the crowd.

Heero heaved a frustrated sigh, pushing him-self from the computer desk he was seated at. Glancing at the wall mounted clock he cringed. He'd just pulled another all-nighter with the Monster Makers at Hypnos; Quatre and Duo would let him hear it when he got home. Shifting his sight back to the source of his frustration he scowled. While the two wouldn't like him not taking a rest, the long shift had been more than necessary. The enemy had been attacking more and more often since the return of the Tamers' partner Digimon. It was taking all five of the Pilots to do computerized battle with the Viral Digimon. It was getting bad enough that one of them had to be at the computer at all hours. Even Takato was taking turns at the station to keep the firewalls up. When a Pilot wasn't busy at the computer they were discussing with the Makers the method they had been brought here from the E.S.U.N.

Normally the bio-fields only brought Digimon to the Real World from the Digital. This particular field had brought them directly from the Sanq Park to West Shinjuku. Takato had theorized that the Digi-gnomes were behind it somehow but there was no way to see if it was true. Another anomaly was the bio-field that brought Marie to the park during Blackgatomon's attack; it had appeared inside a building. Yamaki, the Makers and Tamers had never seen that happen before.

An alarm from the computer forced Heero out of his wool gathering. He hurried to scan the files for the origin of the attack. Finding the attempt to get at their files again he typed out the commands for the counter-attack programs to go to work. While they did their work he called one of the others over to another computer so they could move things around on the intranet.

"This is starting to get pointless! They're attacking more often and even your higher tech programs are losing ground to the Virals. The worst part is that this feels like a distraction, like they want us to focus on this and not anything else."

Heero had to agree with Janyu on that. While the adults were dealing with the digital attacks they couldn't pay attention to the outside world on a constant basis. That left Takato and the Tamers to deal with the problems there. The latest incident with Rika's classmate had only aggravated things. The people who knew the Hazard Tamer were indignant that a stranger would attack one of their own that way. Those that knew him purely by reputation weren't has sure what to believe.

Daisy walked by their corner of the room muttering to herself. Whatever she said Heero didn't catch but it had Janyu sit up straight suddenly. He turned to grab her arm to stop her.

"Daisy, repeat what you just said just now!"

"Wha…I said we didn't have this much trouble with the D-Reaper."

Janyu let her go getting an excited look on his face.

"Yamaki, do you have any copies of the old program? If we can reprogram the D-Reaper to hunt down the files that are attacking us, then we may get some leeway to attack them back!"

"We have the data on it but it was designed to destroy files. Don't we need to keep some of that intact?"

"Yes but that's where the reprogramming comes in. Instead of seek and destroy we change it into seek and retrieve. We can input a self-defense command in the new writing so that if the Digimon try to attack it, it won't be deleted right away. Heero, you and the other Preventers have more advanced technology, take a look at the data and see what you can change to make work for us."

Heero accepted the data disk from Yamaki a bit reluctantly. He'd heard about the D-Reaper from Takato and he hadn't liked it then. Granted it was a good idea and they needed a lot of those but it showed how desperate they were getting if they needed to revive such a dangerous program.

When he got home later that morning Heero was surprised to find two men standing on the front stoop of the boys' new house. They seemed like they had just knocked or rang the bell for the second time and the younger man was starting to look somewhat impatient.

"Can I do anything for you gentlemen?"

Both men turned, startled by Heero's silent appearance, before quickly schooling their features to a more professional appearance.

"Are you the owner of this house?"

"One of them, so, what do you want?"

Heero sighed has the two men took out badges and held them up for him to see.

"We're looking for a young man that is living in this household, a Matsuki Takato."

Heero pinched the bridge of his nose sending a tired plea for patience up to the heavens. Looking closer at the ID badge of the older man he addressed him.

"I'm sorry Detective; Takato should be in school right now. May I ask what you want with him?"

"We've been receiving a lot of disturbing incident reports recently and Matsuki-kun's name seems to be popping up a lot in them. We'd like to ask him a few questions."

"Again, I'm sorry but you'll have to come back when either his parents are here or his older brother. The Matsuki's are at their bakery right now and Maxwell is probably running errands for the rest of us about now. I have no idea when he'll be available."

"When will the Matsuki's be home?"

"After the bakery closes for the night and they don't live with us. They allowed Maxwell to keep guardianship of Takato when we moved here. If you gentlemen don't mind, I've had a long night and I'm tired. I'm sure you can set up an appointment with the family if you call them at the shop. Now excuse me, I'm going to bed."

The young man brushed past the two stunned police men, unlocked the door, went in and shut it in their faces. Leaning against the wooden door he fished his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Quatre's. The conversation was short and to the point, the brunette informing the blonde what had just happened and getting a tired sigh in return. Ending the call he walked tiredly up to his shared room to collapse on his bed.

Wufei growled under his breath annoyed at the man trying, and failing, to follow him discreetly. Looking carefully at his tail he forced himself from reacting in a negative way. His tail was clearly a member of the local Chinese Triad. The man was too far to see any clan markings but he could only belong to one of the two families in the area. The Shenlong Pilot figured it had to be the more aggressive of the clans according to their collective research into the Crime Syndicates of the city. His tendency to wear traditional clothes would have gotten the attention of the Tsung Ye Clan more than the younger clan.

He paused in front of a store close to an alley to see what the man would do. The man came to stand at his side glaring him in the direction of the alley. Wufei didn't bother resisting and sidestepped casually in it. Waiting for the man to join him he cut to the chase as soon as he had his attention.

"What does your Clan want with me?"

"The Boss has some questions to ask. You're to follow me to where he'll meet you."

"I don't give a damn what your boss wants. If it's about the rumors floating around then tell him they were started by a bunch of snot nosed rich brats."

"He'd much rather hear that from you. You don't have a choice in this matter Mr. Chang."

One of the metal side doors behind Wufei opened and two men came out. Two more took a step into the alley behind the first guy. His eyes narrowed as he studied his situation. He could take on all five but that would bring a lot of attention from passers-by and they knew his name. There was no way of knowing if the Clan had knowledge on the three defenseless kids living with them. That was answered by the leader when he saw his indecisiveness.

"If you don't come with us now we'll just have to ask the kiddies your lot have under your wing. I'm sure it won't take much for the pretty little red bird to sing."

He clenched a fist at that. Marie was still recovering from Blackgatomon's attack. She wouldn't stand a chance against a full grown man in her state.

"Fine, I'll clear up this mess once and for all."

Wufei glanced around him furtively. Men in black suits were sitting or standing around the courtyard of the townhouse he'd been brought to. His escort brought him before a door where a man came and patted him down for any weapons hidden on him. Finding nothing he gave the go ahead, opening the door for them. Once inside he was lead to a desk behind which was sitting an older man going over reports.

"Master Tsung Ye, we brought Mr. Chang as ordered Sir."

The man looked up at that to examine his guest. Seeing the scrutiny Wufei kept his head held high and his face expressionless.

"It's not every day that we see that kind of dress outside of China now-a-days Mr. Chang. Even there traditional clothes get you looked at weirdly, unless of course you're from either an Old Family or are the Heir to a Triad Clan. To which do you belong to?"

"I'm the last of the Family; you'll find nothing on them. The Elders made sure of that when they committed mass suicide."

"Oh, humor me anyway."

"I'm from the Long Clan. We were exiled from China centuries ago."

"And they committed suicide only recently? Why were you left alive?"

"They died to deny their enemies. I'm the last child born among them, they entrusted me with the future of the Clan."

"Don't you want revenge on your enemies Mr. Chang? That is what a young man would do in your place."

Wufei looked down at his interrogator with a sneer.

"That is irrelevant to the reason you had me brought here and none of your business. Get on with it; I have better things to do than play polite guest."

"I think it is relevant. Revenge is one of many reasons that would push someone towards murder. From what you just told me you have a motive that validates at least some of the rumors running amok. What is Gundam? A new crime syndicate maybe?"

"Gah, if committing murder were not illegal I'd kill that girl! Listen here Tsung Ye; this was started by a snobby rich girl who couldn't accept that a rival was better than her. We don't know where she got her information but it's inaccurate. The other students' reaction to the accusation was to pin this on the Yakuza at first then when they saw me they added the Triad. My current Family has _nothing_to do with any criminal circle anywhere. If anything, we have more to do with the opposite end of the law to you and your people."

Bending to put both hands on the wood of the desk Wufei looked the crime boss directly in the eyes.

"On that note here's a warning: stay away from my family and anyone related to us. The six of us are not people you want to mess with. You were asking me about revenge earlier, so I'll tell you this; I got it when I was fifteen and it wasn't done by my-self alone. Good day Mr. Tsung Ye."

He straightened and without looking back left the room. Mr. Tsung Ye shook his head as his subordinates tried to follow Wufei out.

"Aren't you just a big contradiction Mr. Chang?" He turned to one of the men in the room. "Assign some men to keep a watch on him and this Family of his. Make sure they are the best and that they aren't found out. I get the feeling that we don't want to know what they are capable of if angered."

"Yes Master."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Duo sighed as he tried to ignore the person following him. Ever since Wufei's return from the Chinese they'd been force to keep a close eye on their surroundings. The three civilian teens were now escorted to and from school, the principal warned that they would be in danger. He had to give it to them. The men ordered to follow them were good. They mixed in with the Japanese populace well enough and didn't use behaviors that would expose them to those followed. Unfortunately for them they had been tasked with tailing a group of highly trained professionals. Duo had spotted his tail as soon as he'd left the convenience store he'd been shopping in. It had only taken him a few seconds to figure out whom and why. Seeing that making a fuss in the street wouldn't be a good idea he ignored the man and hoped that he would leave on his own after a little while.

Now a block from the Hypnos building he decided that it was a good time to lose the hanger on. Ducking below crowd level he sneaked into a store in the wake of a couple. Keeping the shelving between him-self and the large window he looked around, spotting a mirror that let him see outside without giving away his position. The Chinese man appeared in view with an anxious frown. He looked inside the shop through the glass; debated going inside, decided against it and kept going in the direction Duo had been headed. Standing up properly the braided man grinned at the store clerk who had been glancing at him like he was crazy. Waving as he left, he paused to look both ways before exiting the building and resuming his walk to Hypnos.

Duo stepped in the Crisis Centre of Hypnos only to find Trowa and Shibumi deep in a quiet argument. Putting the shopping on a random desk he walked over to see what was going on. Leaving the men to their 'discussion' he glanced at the computer left ignored by them. On it were the basic statistics of the Zero System. In another window beside it was the beginning of a program, using both the Zero and D-Reaper as one in the same software. Obviously Shibumi had been told about the System and its uses. He was more than slightly against the use of it in conjunction with D-Reaper.

Finally getting annoyed with their arguing going in circles, Duo got between them and turned to the Monster Maker.

"Shibumi-san, while I can sympathize with you on the subject of the Zero System, I can also see Heero and Trowa's point. Zero has higher logistics than the D-Reaper that will enable it to make predictions that, that program wouldn't be able to do on its own. We need the extra oomph the System will give it."

"I still don't like it, but you boys know this system better than me so I'll just have to trust you know what you are doing."

So saying, Shibumi and Trowa returned to work; now discussing just how to integrate the two systems together.

Shrugging at being overlooked Duo sauntered on over to Yamaki and Riley who had been watching from the other side of the room.

"How as it been going while I was gone?"

"Rough, there was another digital attack. When that was over those two arguing about that system of yours. What took you so long to come back?"

"The Triad is trying to keep tabs on us, had to ditch a tail before getting here. Speaking of which, does this place have a back door besides the cargo doors? I'd like to leave incognito if I could."

"There's a service door that opens up to the alley on the east side. What are you boys going to do about the Mafia?"

"Well so far it's been only the Triad that got an interest in us. We can deal with them and the cops sniffing around. It'll get a bit harder if the Yakuza decide to stick their noses in the pile too. Until then we'll play dodge the Chinese."

Duo walked through the doors of the Bakery calmly. He'd spent an hour walking around West Shinjuku trying to confuse his tail again. The man was having none of it this time and stuck closer to his target than before. Hoping to bore the Chinese he had decided to go help his parents for a little while. On the way there he'd noticed an older Caucasian male pick up his tail following the other guy. This one had the walk of a veteran cop and had managed to avoid getting caught by the criminal. He frowned as he greeted his mother, the thug visibly taking a seat in front of the store. The cop was seen for just a few seconds as he kept walking out of sight of the windows.

"Is something the matter Duo?"

"No I thought I saw someone I know. How has your day been?"

"Busy but nothing we couldn't handle. Would you like to help your father? He's behind a little bit with the buns."

"Yeah, sure, just give me a holler if you need me up front."

He leaned over the counter to plant a kiss on his mother's cheek, to the delight of some little old ladies, before heading to the back room.

It was a couple hours and several pounds of flour later that found the two men being greeted by a frowning Takato.

"Duo, were you aware of the guy sitting outside?"

"Yeah, that guy's been following me practically all day. Any sign of a plain cloths cop out there?"

"A cop, no, just old men and ladies. Why would the cops be sniffing around too?"

"Heero told you about the two that came looking for you right?"

"Uh-uh. They called Mom and Dad too."

"Apparently you're not the only one being implicated in this criminal business."

Duo clapped his hands together to get rid of most of the flour before going to the sink and washing them. Removing the dusty apron he hung it up on its peg. Both boys told their farewells to their father as they left the back room. They paused briefly in the front to talk to their mother then left the store.

What neither boy knew was that the cop had entered the store shortly after Takato had. He browsed the selection of pastries and breads as he eavesdropped on the other customers. The older patrons were gushing about how it was good fortune that the younger boy was back and how he'd managed to find his older brother. They also reminisced as how the two had been so similar as toddlers with anecdotes about flour monsters and such things. The younger generation focused more on Takato, the boys remembering him in elementary and the girls swooning on his good looks. All in all everything he heard from the patronage were good things but there was sort of a current of unsaid things that made him wary. Whatever they weren't talking about was common knowledge and he didn't like not being in the know. Ducking back behind a shelf unit as the two boys came out the back he watched as they said good bye to their mother. The woman followed them out with her eyes, her hand going for the portable phone and dialing it quickly.

"Ah Wufei-kun, could you or one of the other boys come pick up Duo and Takato from the bakery? There has been a man sitting outside since Duo came in two hours ago. Oh, you will thank you."

Knowing he wouldn't be able to follow them on foot now he picked up something called Guilmon bread, purchased it and went back to the precinct.


End file.
